Konoha High: Trust me  A Gaara love story
by gaarasgirl389
Summary: Find out as some of the Naruto gang meet Umi, who goes to the same school and try to make friends with her. But Umi's past has scarred her deeply and she finds it hard to trust others. Could Gaara be the one to change her? RxR! GaaraxOC
1. Chapter 1  The past will haunt you

**Author's chat:**** Hey! This is a rewrite of my first story "Tokyo and a new guy." It seems that my story wasn't giving readers the right feeling to continue reading so I'm trying again but this time I'm taking peoples' advice and adjusting my story. I thought long and hard on this. My friend wanted me to change only the first chapter as she didn't want to wait too long for chapters. Sorry, 10-timer but this is the only way I and the readers will be satisfied with my story. Ok, sounds like I'm making my death wish. O_0 Ok, here goes!**

Summary: 18 year old Umi (my OC) lost her family two years ago. She moved to Japan and got adopted by a Japanese family. She enters Konoha High school and meets Naruto and his friends. She feels a bit strange towards Gaara, Naruto's friend. But there is a connection between Umi's past and some of her friends. Would you like to find out?

* * *

**Chapter one – The past will haunt you**

_Walking home, after visiting her friends. That's how it had started. It was late evening; the moon was partially covered and shed little light. She had noticed that the village had been quiet. It was a small village and hardly busy, but this silence had felt wrong. She felt herself shiver even though it was warm outside. She also couldn't shake off the feeling that she was being watched. Nearing her house, she noticed someone on the road lying there, not moving. Cautiously approaching the person, she took a closer look and then gasped. The person was dead, obvious as the person had their throat sliced open and the blood just soaked his clothes and the road beneath him. What made her feel even more afraid was the fact that the person was a policeman. She ran towards the police station that was just a little bit away. She didn't have to even enter the building to realise that help could not be found here. Bodies littered the area, all dead. Then she heard a scream. She felt that she had been expecting that. And then her legs walked on their own, dragging her towards the direction of the scream. The area that the scream came from was covered in dead bodies, or rather the body parts. Someone had cut the villagers into pieces. Her legs still drew her forward and she had this huge feeling that she had to stop. Going forward meant that she would regret it. A man with a double bladed scythe jumped out of the shadows and she screamed. And suddenly she had control of her legs and she ran in the direction of her house. Screams could now be heard from every direction. It could only mean one thing. The man with the scythe had friends. Running even faster, she ran into her house, yelling for her family. They called to her and she knew that they knew what had happened. How could they not when a stranger with piercings on his face stood in front of them, holding a weapon aimed at them. There was something strange with his eyes, as if they had several circles. Her parents shouted at her to take her younger brother and sister away. She watched as the man slashed them through the chest. Grabbing the arms of her brother and sister, she run with them out the back door. But she had forgotten about the other man. He sliced her sister in two. She could smell the blood, see it and felt it as her sister's blood sprayed on her. Then another man appeared, his eyes were red. Then her brother yelled and she turned to see what was wrong. Fresh, warm blood sprayed even more onto her. Her brother had been slice in two, in an attempt to protect her from the scythe that the man had tried to slice her with. The man smiled an evil smile that turned her blood into ice. Then the man with red eyes knocked the other man unconscious. Looking at her, he spoke in a foreign language but was oddly familiar. He looked her straight in the eyes and she fell into darkness which changed into the dead bodies. The dead bodies looked at her and screamed at her to help them, save them. Then more blood sprayed out of their bodies and a sea of blood threatened to drown her, with the screams still ringing in her ears . . ._

Umi woke up, breathing hard. She covered her eyes with her arm.

"Damn! That dream again." _And that guy again._

Getting up, she walked to the kitchen.

"Yo, what you up to?" Natsu asked, sitting on the kitchen's table.

"Nii-chan! I just came to drink something. What about you?" Umi asked. Natsu scratched his head and grinned.

"I was just getting ready to start some morning training," he said.

"With noodles?"

"Huh?" Umi points to his hand. "Oh, no! I was. . just. . hungry," Natsu said. Umi stared at him intensely. "Ok, ok! I know Okaa-san said no noodles at night but they're irresistible!" he confessed before stuffing his mouth full of noodles. Umi shook her head.

"You're supposed to be a role model to me. How do I learn to do things the right way if you're always breaking the rules? Gimme!" Umi said before grabbing an uncooked packet of noodles next to him. Natsu watched as she cooked the noodles. Once she had finished dishing up, he continued eating.

"Hey, I can't help it that I like noodles so much that I'll break the rules. Besides, you're the one who introduced me to them," Natsu said, smiling happily. Umi sighed.

"How can you not have eaten noodles when you live in the country that created noodles? Seriously," Umi said, munching on her noodles. Natsu didn't comment as he didn't really have the right excuse. After they finished eating, Natsu stretched his arms.

"Hey, Umi! Want to train before school to work of the fat you still have?" BANG! Umi's fist made contact with the top of Natsu's head. She watched him closely as he grabbed his head and stood there. He started to shake.

"That fucking hurts!" He said in a loud whisper, tears in his eyes. Umi stuck her tongue out. A vein popped out on his head. As he opened his mouth to yell at her, she placed her fore finger in front of her lips and made a 'shh' noise.

"Let's go train outside," Umi said. Natsu glared at her.

"You're gonna pay for that," he threatened. Umi smiled softly behind his back.

* * *

"Oi, Naruto, Hinata! Wait up!" Kiba yelled. Naruto and Hinata looked behind them, to see Kiba running to catch up.

"Good morning, Kiba-kun."

"Hey Kiba. What's up?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I really need to borrow Hinata's math homework. It's next period and since it's break-time now, I can copy it. Please, Hinata?" Kiba asked with his hands together in front of his face. Hinata sighed.

"Fine, but put more effort to remembering next time," she said, rummaging in her bag.

"Thanks, Hinata," Kiba said. They watched as Kiba began to copy.

"Naruto! Hinata!" Temari called out from behind them.

"Yo! Hey, Shikamaru, how did your date go?" Naruto asked, cheekily. Shikamaru who had been walking behind Temari, glared at him.

"Oi, Naruto! Don't ask such things!" Temari said angrily.

"Gomen, gomen!" Naruto said backing away slightly with his hands held up.

"They're in the middle of a lover's quarrel," Gaara said unexpectedly. Shikamaru and Temari blushed a little.

"Ah, so that's why. Man, every now and again, you guys fight. Too much," Naruto commented.

"Shut up," They said together. The gang argued and as they were about to turn into a corner, someone crashed into Gaara, knocking him to the ground. Books fell all around him and the person.

"Ouch," the person said.

"Ah, Gaara, are you ok?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah," Gaara said, and then he looked at the person.

"Ah, hey are you ok, Miss?" Kiba asked. They all looked at the person who, as Kiba had guessed right, was a girl. She had blue hair that seemed to be different shades of blue that changed with the amount of light that shined on it. Her body had a nice figure which her school uniform complimented.

"Gomen ne sai. I was in a hurry," Umi said holding her chin where, the books that she had been carrying, had hit her. She looked up to see who she had bumped into. Oh no, why of all people, did I have to him, Umi thought. Then to distract herself, she quickly started to gather her books from the floor. Gaara picked up the books nearest him. Then he held them out to her.

"Um, thanks. I'm very sorry for bumping into you," she said nervously and then bowing. Taking the books, she quickly walked away. Why did I have to bump into my crush, she thought, red-faced. Gaara looked after her, slightly confused. When she had looked up at him, Gaara realised that she had unusual blue coloured eyes. It had been what had drawn his attention first. He hadn't paid attention to her face. And when she had stood up, he realised that she was only a few centimeters taller than Temari.

"Wow, Gaara. Did you do something to her?" Naruto ask as he watched the girl disappear behind a corner. Gaara shook his head.

"That's not it. She's the new student who started this year. She's Umi Nekona from Class E-1. She's obviously a foreigner. And from what I heard from the other students, when she first spoke to them, she spoke in a very rude tone. She doesn't speak much and she's also one of the library assistants. She keeps to herself. These are only rumours though," Shikamaru explained. They looked at him in surprise.

"How do you know all that?" Kiba asked. Shikamaru shrugged.

"I was bored and there were some students from her class who had been talking nearby. Plus, I've seen her before because I sometimes escape to the library to skip class."

"Oh. Then do you know if she has a boyfriend?" Kiba asked. Everyone looked at him in shock.

"Oi, why would she have a boyfriend? She isn't easy to talk to, stays away from people and is a foreigner. Besides, don't tell me that you fell in love at first sight?" Shikamaru asked sceptically.

"Haha. Nah, she's just interesting. Don't you want to know more about her? She has that strange blue hair, her name's Japanese and she's a foreigner. Plus her accent. Did you notice? Last I checked there aren't many foreigners in the school. I wonder if I should go and talk to her and maybe ask her out," Kiba mused.

"Um, I don't think she's your type of girl. You always fall for bad girls, don't you?" Temari said. Kiba looked at her and grinned.

"What, is that an invitation?"

"Whoa there, Kiba. You may be my friend, but if you're thinking of stealing Temari . . ." Shikamaru said threateningly.

"Who says I have to steal her? You might break up and she might come to me," Kiba said slyly. Shikamaru looked at him in surprise and then grabbed Temari's hand and dragged her away.

"Shikamaru? What are you doing?"

"We're gonna have a long talk." They heard him say before they disappeared.

"Whoa, didn't realise Shikamaru could get jealous. Oi, Kiba, you really should stop that and get yourself a girlfriend. You're a pain in the ass otherwise," Naruto said walking away with Hinata holding his hand. Gaara followed them.

"Oh yeah, well maybe I will. Hmm, I feel like I'm forgetting something . . . Ah! Hinata! I didn't finish copying! Come back! Or wait for me!" Kiba yelled, running after them.

* * *

Umi ran into the library, panting. The librarian looked up.

"Umi-chan? What happened?"

"Uh, nothing, sensei! I just wanted some exercise and decided to run here," Umi said with a small smile to reassure the librarian.

"Oh, ok. Ah are those the new books I ordered? Hooray! Now give them here and I'll add them to the list," Wakaba-sensei (the librarian) said with a happy smile. Umi walked over to the books that other students had brought in. She needed something to think of, something that wouldn't make her think of Gaara. God, why me? Ugh, don't think about it, DON'T think! As Umi reached for another book to put away, someone bumped into the trolley and made it crash into Umi. Ouch, she thought and looked up to see who it was this time. Hana and some of her friends. The popular girls. They hated Umi.

"Hey, watch it! You nearly put dirt on my new clothes," Hana said sneering.

"It's dust. There is no dirt on these books. Remember that," Umi replied. Hana's friends gasped.

"Oh, so you think you're so much better than us, do you? Speaking in that tone and keeping to yourself," Hana said, looking down her nose at Umi. Umi stood up and began brushing down her clothes.

"No, that would be you. Well, except for the part of keeping to yourself. Now, if you don't mind, I have work to do," Umi said looking straight at Hana. When Hana kept staring at her, Umi grabbed the books on the floor and placed them on the trolley. As she placed the last book on it, Hana moved. Her hand grabbed a book and Hana threw it at Umi, while dislodging books that were loose on the shelf. Umi was unable to prevent the book from hitting her on the side of the face. The books that fell made a big noise.

"HEY! What's going on there?" Wakaba-sensei yelled. Hana and her friends quickly ran away. By the time, Wakaba-sensei arrived, they were nowhere to be seen.

"Ah, Umi, what happened?" Wakaba-sensei said looking at Umi who was busy picking up the books from the floor.

"Oh, I accidently tripped and the books fell down. I'm sorry," Umi explained with her back facing the librarian.

"Oh. Be more careful please, Umi. If the books are torn or damaged, you will have to pay for them," Wakaba-sensei said before turning around and walking back. Umi waited until she couldn't hear footsteps anymore and then placed her hand over her sore cheek.

"Ouch," Umi said softly.

* * *

Umi walked to the front gate, aware that many of the students she passed were talking about her. Three months and they still didn't stop discussing about her. Ignore them, Umi reminded herself. Hearing a motorcycle, she looked up to see a familiar motorcycle pull up to the front gate and the rider wave at her. She ran up to him.

"Natsu, did you come to pick me up? Don't you have a job to do?" Umi said to her brother.

"Yeah, I do. Listen, Okaa-san asked me to do some shopping and I don't have time. Please do it for me?" Natsu asked. Umi grimaced.

"I should have known. Ok, ok. Give me the list and money," Umi said, her hand out.

"Here's the list and money. Don't take too long. Okaa-san needs it for supper," Natsu said before he started the engine and drove off. Umi walked towards the big supermarket that was fifteen minutes away from the school.

Lucky, Kiba thought to himself. Umi is walking in the same direction as me. Hey, then when we date, I can walk her home without having to pretend that my home is in the wrong direction. Hehe, he chuckled softly. Then he looked at Umi again. He was walking two hundred meters away from her. This was due to the fact that Umi was walking fast. Damn, I might have to run to keep up. Oi, oi, he thought as he notice that she turned into a corner, doesn't she know that that's where some bad guys like to hang out? Crap, he thought as he ran to catch up.

Umi realised at the last second that the shortcut she had chosen to go through, was a bit preoccupied. She began to panic slightly as the gang of guys surrounded her. Calm down and focus, she thought as she watched one of the guys speak but she couldn't hear what he was saying over the beat of her heart.

Shit, nearly there, Kiba thought and then shot out his hand and grabbed the corner of the wall and turned to see . . .

Umi kicked the first guy, and then quickly took care of two more. The others, seeing that, grew angry and rushed towards her. Dodging, Umi hit the side of their necks, one after another, until they all laid unconscious on the ground. Taking a deep breath, she run towards the other end of the alleyway.

* * *

Kiba's jaw dropped as he tried to absorb what he had just seen. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? Then as he began to take everything in, he smiled. Interesting, very interesting girl, he thought watching as Umi disappeared from his sight.

"Hey Kiba! What're you doing?" Naruto said to him. Kiba jumped.

"Hey, give a guy some warning! I was just . . ." Kiba said, and then smiled, "I was just watching a girl kick ass."

"Really?" Temari asked.

"Yeah. You know, you were right, Temari."

"I was?"

"Yeah, I definitely fall for bad girls," Kiba said, smiling. Hinata, Naruto, Shikamaru, Temari and Gaara looked at each other. What the heck, was their shared thought.

* * *

**Author's chat:**** So what do you think? It's a huge improvement and I have changed some things to make it easier for me to write. For instances, Umi is a student already, she's not in Naruto's class and she's a lot more distanced from others. I've made it more to the point as a certain someone complained that I was dragging the story too much. I've taken some characters out as it's a hassle to keep giving everyone a chance to talk. **

**Hinata didn't have much to say and when she did say something, it didn't sound much like the Hinata everyone knows. The reason behind this is that I think that after she begins dating Naruto, she becomes more confident and can say things she didn't dare before.**

**Naruto said that a lot and I hope that I got his character right.**

**Shikamaru and Temari said some things but not a lot also. Again like Hinata, Shikamaru was a little made up as I think that since he's dating Temari, he would be jealous and that's why I made him jealous when Kiba was talking about Temari. By the way, the fight that Temari and Shikamaru were having, was about Temari who thought that Shikamaru might have feelings about other girls. They fought and now their date is ruined. If you put that fact together with what Kiba was saying about Temari going after him, you realise that Shikamaru was having the same thoughts like Temari: that she likes other guys.**

**Gaara didn't say at all much. I just needed to bring him in as I had to get as much info into this chapter. So as I think I said at the beginning, Umi has feelings for Gaara. I needed to get that out.**

**Kiba is a bad boy as you remember and he had the most talking out of them all. Him going after Umi is going to put some interest into the upcoming chapters I hope.**

**And it would seem that I forgot someone! Kiyomi! I'm so sorry! I meant to but this story is constantly changing in my head. Next chappie, I promise!**

**Oh and please review! It helps me (and kills me)! And the next chapter might take long as school just loves the idea of piling more and more homework on me! College can really be a pain. Remember every review helps! Please? Don't just read and leave. Review too! ^^**


	2. Chapter 2 Past connections revealed

**Chapter 2 – Past Connections revealed**

**Author's chat:**** Heya! Thank goodness it the holidays. I now have some free time and can continue writing! 10-timer will be happy. ^^**

_In the Police Headquarters . . ._

"I have a job for the six of you. You will be guarding this girl. She is being targeted by a gang of murderers by the name of Akatsuki and your abilities will be the best to protect her. Also, since you all are attending her school, it allows you to protect her even during school time. Here is her file and files on the gang members," the head of the police told the six teenagers, handing them each a folder.

"Whoa! What's up with her past? Her village gets attacked by Akatsuki and she's the only survivor," one of the teenagers, a guy, comments.

"This gang, Akatsuki, why is it that the file says that they have killed and tortured many but have never let anyone survive until her? Plus, there isn't a lot of info on any of them," another guy spoke.

"Madara, the leader of Akatsuki. Pein, second-in-command, has a few strange abilities linked to his eyes. Hidan, a member of a banned religion, carries a double scythe. Konan, in charge of getting Akatsuki's Intel and the only woman in the gang. Deidara, the world's most fearsome bomber and terrorist. Kakuzu, in charge of Akatsuki's finance and an unusual surgeon. Zetsu rarely fights and we unfortunately have very little info on him. Kisame, carries a large sword and is not to be fought one-on-one. If you're up against him, take him out as a group. And lastly, Itachi," the head of police continued before being interrupted by one of the teenagers.

"Wait; don't tell me this guy's related to Sasuke-teme?"

"He is. He has the same abilities as Sasuke but is much more dangerous. He was actually from one of my military camps, very loyal. We have yet to discover why he betrayed us," the head of police replied.

"Great, another Uchiha to watch out for. Troublesome," one of the teenagers sighed.

"But that's not all. Out of all of them, the ones you will have to look out for are: Madara, Itachi, Hidan, Pein, Deidara and possibly Kisame. The others are mostly there to support them. All our records show that the others do not participate in the killing but they are criminals for other reasons. Some of the military troops that we've sent after them have discovered that Akatsuki recently found out about Nekona Umi being alive. As the military men do not possess the abilities you six have, they don't have a chance of protecting Umi," the head of police said before being interrupted.

"Ok, ok. We get what you mean. It's just a job that only we can do. Got it," one of the guys said impolitely.

"Naruto-kun, you shouldn't speak like that," one of the girls spoke.

"Gomen na sai," Naruto apologised.

"Don't worry. I know that you understand that it's just another job. But, this job has something to do with your past. Naruto, your parents were murdered. Hinata, your uncle was murdered. Temari, Gaara, your uncle was brain-washed and did suicide. You all know that. You also know that the culprit hasn't been caught. What if I told you that Akatsuki was responsible for all of that?"

_Later, in Umi's house . . . _

"What were you thinking, Otou-san? They're just teenagers! They can't possibly protect Umi!" Natsu said loudly to his father.

"They are six highly trained teenagers. The head of police believes that they will be able to stop Akatsuki from killing Umi," his father said.

"Well, what the hell is the government doing recruiting teenagers as part of their police force?" Natsu said furiously. Umi, who was sitting next to him, raised her eye brow and sweat dropped.

"Um, Natsu, have you forgotten that you're part of police force and Kiyomi too? You both started when you were 16, remember? What difference is there between you and them?" Umi commented.

"Uh, well," Natsu said stuttering, trying to think of a good answer.

"I cannot believe that you just said that. Natsu, calm down for a minute and think. Akatsuki are very dangerous and although you have been protecting Umi, they have abilities that you can't fight against. The best way to win against them is to have others with similar abilities. That's where these six come in. Do I have to spell it out for you? UMI is in danger and you CAN'T help her. And also-" his father argued but was interrupted.

"Otou-san, could you just tell me when I'm going to meet them? Then you and Natsu can argue all you like. Natsu, just understand that even if you protest against this, it's not going to change anything. They will still be assigned to protect me. It's the government's order," Umi said, looking at her brother. Her father nodded in approval. Then the doorbell rang.

"That should be them. Go to the garden and wait there. You can talk in private, get to know each other and so on," her father said, leaving the room. Umi stood up and walked towards the garden where she waited nervously. It's going to be ok. It will be fine. Nothing is going to go wrong, she thought. Calming herself, she heard the door open and turned around. Oh god, why did GAARA have to be one of them?

"Yo," Kiba said, smiling confidently at her. Gaara, Temari, Shikamaru, Hinata and Naruto stood behind him.

"Now, don't be shy, everyone. Get to know each other more. After all, if you don't, your cover will be blown," Umi's father said before leaving.

"Otou-san! What cover?" Umi yelled after him.

"You don't know? It's been arranged to have either Kiba or Gaara act like your boyfriend," Temari said. Umi froze. They looked at her, wondering what her reaction would be.

"WHAT?"

"Yip, so how about you choose? I don't really mind. We could even do the real thing . . .-" Kiba said.

"Kiba! I personally think that Gaara would be better," Temari said, interrupting him quickly.

"What? Why?" Kiba asked. Temari gave him a stare that meant 'Are you serious?'

"Let's be honest here. Kiba, you're a delinquent, you're way too out going, you get into more trouble than Naruto . . .-"

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed.

"- . . . you can be irresponsible and you would be more of a danger to her than Akatsuki," Temari finished.

"She has a point," Shikamaru nodded.

"Oi! Sure, that's kinda like me, but Umi seems like she doesn't have the courage to ask anyone out. Me going out with her, means that I asked her out and so it's prefect for the cover. Plus, I like her and that will convince people more," Kiba said, before being hit hard on the head.

"Ow! Who the . . .-?" Kiba said holding his head and looking at his friends. None of them were standing close to him to hit him. He turned around.

"What the hell do you mean that I don't look like I can ask someone out?" Umi said furiously. Umi then gasped as she realised that she broke the image of a shy girl. Kiba stared at her and then grinned.

"Oh yeah? Then how many boys have you asked out?" Kiba asked. Umi glared at him.

"You're really interesting and I can't help but feel that this could be fun," he said. Shikamaru quickly grabbed Kiba.

"See? That's what we're talking about. You'll definitely scare her off and that will definitely make our job more complicated," Shikamaru said.

"Then it's decided. Gaara will be Umi's 'boyfriend'," Temari announced. Why am I stuck with four idiots who are not directly involved with the problem here? They're not the ones who have to pretend to be dating someone they're not! And why am I even part of this cover-up? Gaara thought, annoyed at everyone deciding things without him being able to comment on anything.

"That's excellent. Then, how about everyone come in and has a cup of tea?" Umi's father said popping out of nowhere.

"OTOU-SAN! I thought they were only going to guard her! There was no mention of one of them being her boyfriend!" Natsu yelled, standing behind him.

"Could I just . . .-" Umi began saying.

"Natsu, this is what the government has come up with. It's a genius cover and . . .-" her father said not hearing he speak.

"Otou-san, please . . .-" Umi tried again.

"The government is thinking up cold-hearted ideas that don't have Umi's best interest at heart. I should . . .-" Natsu protested.

"Will you listen to yourself? You sound like you have something of a sister-complex for Umi! If your mother were to find out . . .-" his father replied. Someone stop them, thought the six bodyguards.

"SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!" Umi shouted. Her father and Natsu looked at her in surprise. The bodyguards looked shocked. That was unexpected, they thought.

"Umi that is not the way to speak like that to your father. I know you hate fighting among family members, but we have your best interest at heart and . . .-" her father said before being cut off by her.

"I don't want to hear those words. You're acting just like my dad did . . ." Umi said before clapping her hands to her mouth.

"I'm sorry, I need some time alone," Umi said before rushing to her room.

"Nice. Very nice, Otou-san. You just had to make her depressed with remembering her dad. It's the anniversary of her family's death in a week's time! She gets sensitive even more now!" Natsu said sarcastically at his father. The father looked really depressed. Natsu looked at the others.

"I think it's time for you guys to go home. She won't come out of her room until she calms down and that could take a while," Natsu explained.

_Later that evening . . ._

"He said WHAT?"

"Yeah. It reminds me too much of how my dad . . ." Umi said, speaking on the phone with her best friend, Kiyomi. She had first met Kiyomi four years ago. Umi had the bad luck of meeting a gang of bad guys who were planning on raping her when Kiyomi, who was visiting the area as a tourist with her family, had come to her aid and beat the men up. Umi thanked her but then had to help Kiyomi get back to her hotel and on the way to the hotel, found that they had a lot in common. Two years later, Kiyomi supported her when her family had been murdered.

"Ok, ok. Don't cry! Take a deep breath," Kiyomi advised and then paused to listen. Umi took a deep breath in.

"Good. Now why were Natsu and your father fighting?" Kiyomi asked.

"It's about my new bodyguards and 'boyfriend'," Umi replied.

"More bodyguards? What can they do? . . . Wait, did you say BOYFRIEND?" Kiyomi exclaimed.

"They have some sort of abilities that are similar to Akatsuki or so Otou-san says. And one of them has to pretend to be my boyfriend, so that at school it won't seem strange that I'm hanging out with them all of a sudden," Umi said.

"Boyfriend, huh? Gee, I see nothing but trouble up ahead for you. Or maybe an opportunity!" Kiyomi said, suddenly getting an idea.

"Oh no! There is no way you're thinking what I think you're thinking!" Umi protested.

"Oh, come on! It will be just brilliant if you could get a boyfriend, a real one! It will take your mind off things. Ok, tell me all about him!" Kiyomi said, excitedly.

"He has reddish-brown hair, has the kanji for love on his forehead and. . . Wait! What are you making me say! I don't want you to try and match him up with me . . .-" Umi said quickly. Kiyomi interrupted.

"Wait, he sounds familiar! Isn't that the guy you said that you had a crush on when you first entered the school? Oh my god! This is a great coincidence! Now all you have to do is make the relationship real! I'm a genius!" Kiyomi said crazily. Umi's mouth dropped.

"Wait a minute! He's my bodyguard! A relationship between the bodyguard and the one who's being protected is forbidden as it brings too much problems into the job. Even if he's supposed to be my 'boyfriend' as a cover-up," Umi said.

"But don't you see that you're so busy thinking about him being a boyfriend that you have forgotten about the other topic? This is just what you need," Kiyomi said.

"What topic?"

"Exactly!"

_At the same time, elsewhere . . ._

Gaara knocked on his brother's bedroom door.

"Come in. Oh, it's you, Gaara. What's the new job the Head of Police gave you?" Kankuro asked.

"It's a bodyguard job. Temari, Shikamaru, Naruto, Hinata, Kiba and I have to protect one of the girls from our school from this one gang. And that's not all," Gaara said, watching Kankuro take a swallow of tea from his cup. "In order not to make other students aware of the bodyguard thing, I have to pretend to be her boyfriend." Kankuro sprayed the tea from his mouth in surprise.

"WHAT? Hold on! Why you?"

"Kiba was the other choice but the others kept bringing up reasons why he couldn't be the one to be her 'boyfriend'. Hell, the only one who didn't say anything was Hinata!" Gaara explained. Kankuro nodded.

"Yeah, Kiba wouldn't be able to keep his job and his feelings apart for very long. Unless that girl would go after a guy like him? No? Ok, ok. But man! You? Pretending to be someone's boyfriend? Oh god!" Kankuro said, beginning to laugh. Gaara glared at him.

"That's not making me feel any better. Why the hell do I have to do this?" Gaara complained.

"Think about it. Shikamaru and Naruto are dating Temari and Hinata. And everyone knows that they aren't going to split up, no matter how much Shikamaru and Temari fight. It would complicate their lives way too much later on when the job's done and they can continue their lives like normal," Kankuro said seriously.

"What about my life? That's not something the school will forget. Besides, I don't know anything about dating someone! That's why I came here, to you, to ask for some advice," Gaara said, looking at his brother. Kankuro laughed out loud. Gaara grabbed one of the pillows on Kankuro's bed and threw it at him.

"Will you stop that!"

"Ok, I'm sorry, but now you see why you should have already gone out with someone. It would have given you experience and it could have kept you from being a candidate for this 'boyfriend' job. Ok, ok! Put that pillow down! I'll give you some advice. For starters, you can pick her up from her house and walk her to school and walk her back to her house. Sit with her during school breaks, eat lunch together. From there, you can take her out on dates, start holding hands, later kissing and . . .-" Kankuro said.

"Wait! This is a cover-up! It doesn't mean that it's the real thing! I don't think more than walking her to and fro from school and spending time with her during breaks and eating lunch with her is necessary. In fact, it will mean at least one of us is with her most of the time. That will make the job easier. Ok, I'm going back to my room. I need to finish homework," Gaara said and stood up.

"But if you go on dates with her after school, then you'll be protecting her after school as well," Kankuro said quickly to remind Gaara. Gaara blushed a little.

"No boyfriend takes his girlfriend out every day! That's just weird!" Gaara said.

"Ok, Temari and Hinata could go shopping in the afternoon or something with her. Don't know what Kiba and Shikamaru could do though, without someone thinking something bad," Kankuro said. Gaara quickly left the room. Kankuro looked at the door.

"You worried so much about what to do that you forgot to do your homework? Plus Gaara blushed. Man, this pretend relationship thing could be loads of fun to watch," he said out loud.

**Author's note:**** Well, what do you readers think? This chapter took a heck of a long time to write, mostly due that fact that I had trouble thinking how to start the chapter as interesting as I could. I also suffered writer's block for quite a long time. I came up with the idea of making them as bodyguards of Umi as it makes the story better and actually sounds better than my other storyline. I read this chapter out to my sister (another fan fiction writer) and she advised me on how to make it better. (I kept her up way, way past her bedtime to help me with this.) She added a few extra twists. Also, now you all will be seeing more of Gaara and Umi together! Much better than waiting a few chapters for something to develop! Please read and review! And if you have anything you feel could make the story more interesting, then please tell!**

**Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!**

**I'll try and see how the next chapter comes along and you might have a new chapter before or just after New Year!**

**Please review as there's a lot of people reading but not reviewing! I have anonymous reviews enabled so please do review!**


	3. Chapter 3 Dating can hurt you

**Chapter 3 – Dating can hurt you**

**Author's chat:**** Yo! I changed something in Chapter 2 by request from my friend to change the way Kiyomi and Umi had first met. I never knew that saying they had met through pen pals would be boring! Hey, I met some of my friends through pen pals! Although I haven't cough met any of them. Yet. Please do reread that part as I have thought up a new way for the two girls to meet. It's something that CAN happen. You just have to be in the right place at the right time and meet the right people. I'd advise you NOT(!) to try it because you will, most likely than not, get hurt.**

**

* * *

**

Gaara waited nervously in front of Umi's house. Umi's dad had seen him and Gaara knew that he had told Umi that Gaara was waiting for her outside. At least that was what he hoped had happened. Yesterday had shown him that Umi's brother, Natsu, was against Gaara and his friends protecting Umi and Umi's father was following orders from the government and Gaara had no idea if Umi's mother felt the same way as Natsu. He gritted his teeth against the cold of the morning. It irritated him to think that while he had to walk all the way to Umi's house in the cold, his friends and sister were probably already at school, nice and warm or spying on him right now to see how his first walk with his 'girlfriend' would go. Which probably wasn't very fun considering that his 'girlfriend' had yet to leave the house. He had already been waiting fifteen minutes. The door finally opened and Umi ran out.

"Good morning," she said, as she slowed down to a walk. Gaara nodded and began walking. After five minutes of silence, Umi sneaked a look at his face. He showed nothing on his face to show her what he was feeling.

"Um," Umi said nervously. Gaara looked at her.

"Did you wait too long?" she asked.

"Fifteen minutes," Gaara said in a monotone, looking forward again.

"Oh. I'm so sorry. Do you think you could next time give me a time when you'll arrive? I could then be ready in time," Umi commented. Gaara looked at her again. Oh, crap, he really is mad, Umi thought. Stupid Natsu! Why did he have to continue fighting with Otou-san about the whole bodyguard thing again? Because of him, she had gotten delayed another ten minutes.

"8:30."

"What?" Umi asked, realising that she had forgotten what they had been talking about since she had been thinking too hard on other things.

"I'll pick you up at 8:30 from your house. I prefer to have plenty of spare time before school starts just in case of the unexpected," Gaara explained. Umi smiled.

"Thanks. It makes things easier to know such things," Umi said, smiling shyly. Gaara nodded. Then they spotted the school's front gate. Here goes nothing, they thought. Halfway across the school ground, they had all of the students present staring after them. Gaara looked totally unaffected from all the attention while Umi's nerves grew tighter and tighter by the second. Umi and Gaara separated when they reached the inside of the school, going towards their school lockers to change their outdoor shoes to indoor shoes. He also escorted her to her classroom. And students gossiped like crazy as they passed by. This is going to take a hell of a long time to quiet down, Umi thought, sighing in her mind. IF it quiets down.

* * *

"Wow, people sure like to gossip, huh?" Kiba whistled softly as he and the gang walked towards the school's cafeteria.

"What did you expect? A quiet walk through the school, with no one giving a damn about you?" Umi asked, her nervousness coming about in anger.

"That would be nice," Gaara said softly.

"Ignore them. They'll soon have something new to talk about," Temari said casually.

"Temari, how long have you ever been in the talk of the school?" Umi asked. Temari raised an eyebrow.

" 'Ever been in the talk of the school?' " Temari repeated.

"You know what I mean," Umi said.

"Right. Let's see. The longest was probably when I first entered the school. I scared a few people and next thing I know, people are spreading strange rumours on how unladylike I was and how strong I was. That went on for about a month. Why?" Temari asked.

"Try being a foreigner. They don't forget you so soon," Umi grimaced slightly.

"So how long did they take to forget that?" Naruto asked.

"They have yet to forget," Umi replied. The group sweat dropped.

"Um, what about before you entered the school?" Hinata asked, stuttering a little.

"This is my first Japanese school. But even before I came to Japan, I was still talked about. Although not as much as here," Umi said.

"You were still talked about? How come?" Shikamaru asked.

"I was born in one country but since my parents are foreigners, that doesn't make me one of them. Other kids knew that I was different so they always wished to talk about what foreigners do. Really annoying," Umi said.

"How many countries have you been to?" Kiba asked.

"Including Japan? Four. And I didn't go there for holiday. But I'm not going into detail as that brings up the past and this week is no good for me," Umi said seriously. The group remembered Natsu mentioning yesterday to his father that Umi's family's anniversary was coming up during this week and how Umi was more sensitive during this time. Temari gave Kiba a silent warning not to talk anymore or he would be in trouble. Kiba wisely obeyed. Having reached the cafeteria, they sat down and ate their bentos. Umi listened as Kiba nagged about homework that he had to finish, Naruto laughing at Kiba for that and then Kiba and Naruto got into a fight. After some time, Temari got mad and started yelling at them to shut up. Shikamaru fell asleep after eating and Hinata began chatting to Naruto. Gaara sat back and watched them all. After a while, the bell rang, signalling the end of break.

When Gaara came to pick her up from the classroom to walk her home, Umi could feel the looks from her classmates. At least it's the end of the first day. The next couple of days should become easier, Umi thought in relief. As Gaara and Umi walked outside the school, they heard someone yell.

"Hey, hurry up you two!" Temari yelled from the front gate.

"What you waiting here for?" Umi asked once she and Gaara reached them.

"It's not Gaara's job alone. It was just this morning that you guys were going to be alone. From now on, we'll be walking with you," Temari said slyly. Umi realised something.

"Temari?"

"Yip?"

"What's with you saying that? Don't tell me you wanted somehow to tease Gaara or something?" Umi asked directly. They looked at her, even Gaara. "What?"

"Girls don't normally say that out loud. At least not in front of guys. Plus, since you don't know us very well, a person wouldn't be so direct," Kiba replied.

"Excuse me for being abnormal," Umi muttered. Kiba looked at her again and looked at Gaara.

"Hey, can we swap? I really want to date Umi!" Kiba asked before being interrupted.

"For the last time, Kiba! Gaara is dating Umi and that is final! No changes!" Temari said fiercely.

"But-"

"Down, boy. Seriously, get a girlfriend," Temari replied.

"I'm busy trying to get one."

"Not with this girl. She's taken."

"You referring to Umi or yourself? I don't mind which. You're both cute." That got Shikamaru's attention.

"Oi, Kiba. Temari is taken and so is Umi. Leave it at that," Shikamaru said stepping between Temari and Kiba.

"Technically, Umi isn't taken. And-" They reached Umi's house.

"Kiba, if you want to get a girlfriend, at least stick true to one girl. She won't like it if you're constantly jumping from one girl to another. You're just asking for trouble this way," Umi said, before walking away. Temari, Shikamaru, Naruto, Hinata, Gaara and Kiba stared at her.

"She's got you there, Kiba," Naruto said as the others laughed.

"Shut up, Naruto," Kiba said, annoyed.

* * *

Next day, Umi felt a bit more at ease being around the gang. But in school, some of the girls cornered her in class.

"Hey, is it really true that you and Gaara-kun are dating?" said one of the girls.

"Yeah," Umi said, feeling very nervous.

"No way!" "What?" "Why would he-?" the girls cried out in confusion. Then Hana and her friends came forward.

"Hey, you know, a girl like you should break up with him. I mean, how could any guy want to date you? You're a foreigner, you spend most of your time in the library and your hair . . . it says it all," Hana said snottily. Umi went red in the face.

"What's wrong with being a foreigner? Or spending time in the library? Are you saying that being Japanese or native is to be superior to foreigners? That's being a racist. And spending time in the library, there's nothing wrong with that! I like books and the quiet that the library offers. And my hair? What's wrong with it?" Umi said angrily.

"It's blue. You look like a punk," Hana replied.

"So what if it's blue? And if I look like a punk, that's just your opinion! What does my hair being blue have to do with dating Gaara?" Umi asked.

"Blue hair! It's unnatural! It's too freaky! Why would Gaara want to date a freak?" Hana said spitefully. The other girls laughed softly at this, mocking Umi. Umi felt tears threatening to spill. She rushed out of the classroom, the girls' laughter echoing in her ears.

Hinata turned around the corner, to barely miss a familiar person running past her. Hinata turned around to see a blue hair girl still running.

"Umi?"

Why me? What is it about me that just brings the bullies to bully me? Umi thought as she cried. Her tears blurred her vision, making it hard to see in front of her. Panting, she continued running. Where to, she didn't think about. Then Umi crashed into someone. Trying to look past her tears, Umi saw a blond haired girl on the floor.

"Ow! Hey, watch it- Umi?" Temari exclaimed as she saw Umi's tears. Umi rushed past her. "Wait, Umi!"

"Umi!" Hinata yelled as she ran up the corridor, seeing Umi running past Temari. The two girls gave chase, but when they turned the corner, Umi was nowhere to be seen.

Umi sat down on the floor in the school's janitor's closet. She was still panting from the running and crying at the same time. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself. Gaining a bit of control, Umi wiped away the traces of the tears on her face. She felt her phone begin to vibrate as someone called her. Checking it, Umi saw that it was her mom. Feeling relieved and about to answer, she remembered. This wasn't her real mother. Her mother was dead, no longer available to listen to her problems. Umi ignored the call. Why me? Mom, Dad, come back! I can't take it anymore! Their words hurt. Why did you leave me? Mom, Dad! Don't leave me all alone! Umi thought in grief. Her tears fell once more. She hugged her knees to her chest as she cried.

* * *

"Did you see her?"

"No. I can't find her anywhere," Temari said to Hinata. They had been searching for Umi all over the school.

"This is bad. What if something happened to her . . . ?" Hinata asked worried.

"Umi was crying. Something bad already happened! Shit!" Temari said frustrated. What happened, Umi, they both thought.

"Ah, Temari and Hinata! May I ask you for a favour?" the principal of the school called out from behind them. They turned around to see the principal standing with a girl with long, straight, black hair that reached her hips. Her eyes were eyes and when you looked into them, it felt like you were safe and in danger at the same time. She was dressed in a short black dress that revealed her shoulders; she wore fishnet stockings with sexy black heels. She had fishnet gloves that went up to her elbows. She wore around her neck a black beaded necklace with a black cross.

"Um, we are looking for Umi. This isn't-" Temari began saying before the principal interrupted.

"That's fine. I need you to bring Kiyomi-san to Umi. I'll leave it to you," the principal said and left. Kiyomi looked at them.

"You girls know Umi?"

"We're her friends," Hinata said.

"You must be Hinata and Temari, right?"

"How'd you know?" Temari asked suspious.

"Then you're her new body guards?" Temari and Hinata stared in surprise at Kiyomi.

"How-?"

"I'm Umi's best friend. She told me all about you guys." They looked at her and then Hinata sighed.

"When Umi gets upset, where would she hide?" Hinata asked.

"When Umi gets upset- . . . wait, what happened to Umi?" Kiyomi asked.

"That's what we want to know. She ran past us crying. We can't find her," Temari said. Kiyomi looked at her, her expression unreadable.

"Umi runs to any place she feels will not allow others to see her crying. That could be bloody anywhere. But it has to be inside the school, as leaving the school would mean someone had seen her and you would have followed her outside," Kiyomi said logically. "The place to start would have to be . . . her classroom. Umi never liked being late for school or getting in trouble. School has already started and it's . . what, fifth period?" Kiyomi asked. Hinata nodded.

"Let's go," Temari said and turned and ran in the direction of Umi's class. Kiyomi and Hinata followed. As they were about to climb the stairs to reach the higher floor where Umi's class was, they heard girl voices complaining.

"Where the hell did that freak run off to?" Hana complained. Kiyomi pulled Temari and Hinata back and motioned for them to remain quiet.

"Dating Gaara has given her a bigger head. It makes me so mad!"

"Hana, calm yourself. Umi's probably crying somewhere. You had to have hurt her somehow. You called her a freak after all. And you did take her down, calling a foreigner and bookworm." A girl spoke up, giggling as she spoke. Temari clenched her hands into fists. She looked at Hinata. They now knew why Umi had been upset. They looked at Kiyomi.

"Ha! I won't be satisfied until she breaks up with Gaara. No one's allowed to date him. He's mine! Ohh! I just had a great idea! How about we go and find her, then we cut that hair of hers. She was quite proud of it. And we could do all sorts of pranks on her. Hehe!" Hana laughed nastily.

"But what if we get caught?" A different girl asked.

"It's alright. My parents are on the school board. They'll believe whatever I say and will be able to protect us," Hana said. She giggled. The others joined in. They stopped when they spotted Kiyomi, Temari and Hinata at the bottom of the stairs. Temari glared at them and Hinata stared angrily at them. Kiyomi looked shocked at what she had heard.

"Hana! How dare you? What gives you the right to bully others? And after all I had just heard, you're not getting out of this one! I'll make sure of that!" Temari said furiously. Hana was about to reply when Kiyomi spoke.

"You're the one who's been bullying Umi? Umi's gone through more things than you'll ever go through in your entire life! If you think you can just have your way with everything just because your parents are in the school board, you picked the wrong girl to mess with! You're dead!" Kiyomi threatened, looking ready to kill the girls. Temari and Hinata could feel a dark aura rise from Kiyomi. Then Kiyomi jumped up the stairs and attacked the group of girls. The girls didn't even get the chance to cry out in pain. Temari and Hinata just watched as Kiyomi executed martial art move after another, kicking, punching the girls all over the place. When she had finished, Hana laid on the floor with her friends, their faces bruised and scratched. Their hair and clothes were untidy. Kiyomi looked down at them, anger still on her face. Temari and Hinata stared at her.

"What the -?" The three of them turned around to see Umi standing behind Temari and Hinata, her eyes red from crying.

"Umi! Are you alright?" Kiyomi asked, jumping down to land in front of Umi.

"Yeah, I'm- . . . Kiyomi what are you doing here? What did you do?" Umi asked.

"I came to visit but you were at school, so I thought I'd come fetch you. I find out that you have disappeared and then I overhear some girls saying bad things about you and how they had bullied you. So I beat them up and now you've appeared. Where were you?" Kiyomi asked in concern, looking at her friend's face.

"Janitor's closet. You beat up Hana and her friends? Kiyomi! Are you looking for trouble?" Umi moaned. Kiyomi brought something out of her dress's hidden pocket.

"Not with this evidence. I never leave home without a voice recorder," Kiyomi smiled in triumphant. They looked at her in shock. Umi shook her head.

"I keep forgetting to not underestimate you," Umi said. Kiyomi grinned.

* * *

After the principal had a serious talk with Hana's parents, Hana got suspended for a month. Kiyomi mysteriously managed to not get in trouble.

"I'm amazed. How did you manage not get out of trouble?" Hinata marvelled. Kiyomi smiled a mysterious smile.

"And where did you learn to fight like that?" Temari asked.

"Military school and loads of optional martial arts sport choices," Kiyomi replied.

"And you're better off not to know the answer to Hinata's question. It might get complicated plus if you tell Naruto and Kiba, God save the school," Umi said.

"Note to self: Don't tell certain secrets to Kiba and Naruto," Temari said out loud. They burst out laughing. Then Kiyomi looked at Umi.

"Good, you finally laughed. Or smiled. We are going to have a talk when you get home," Kiyomi said.

"Yes, Mother dearest," Umi said solemnly.

"Hey!"

The girls turned around to see the guys walking towards them. Umi frowned a little, as she was confused. Then she looked at her watch. Half past three! It was the end of school. No wonder the guys were out of class.

"Temari, Hinata! Where were you girls? You missed two lessons," Kiba asked.

"Principal needed to see us," Hinata replied. Temari nodded.

"For two hours?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yeah," Temari said. Umi and Kiyomi watched them.

"Hey, Umi. Have you been crying?" Kiba asked. Gaara, Naruto and Shikamaru looked at Umi's red eyes.

"Um," Umi said, her mind blank. Kiyomi stepped in front of her.

"That's private girly business. You boys should stay out of that. I know you don't want to know," Kiyomi stated. Umi, Temari and Hinata stared at her. Then they looked at each other.

"Shall we leave it under that?" Temari asked.

"But then we'll be leaving the guys out of something," Hinata said. The guys blushed.

"Um, I think you can DEFINITELY leave us out of this. I don't need to know anything that personal to girls. You might mention something embarrassing like _that_ time of the month," Shikamaru said. Temari stared at him and then giggled.

"Oh my gosh! I've never seen you so red in the face! Not since-" Temari said still giggling.

"TEMARI!" Shikamaru interrupted. Temari looked at Naruto. He looked at the floor. She looked at Gaara. He looked away. She giggled even harder. Then she looked at Kiba and groaned. Kiba was staring at Kiyomi like he always did whenever he saw a truly beautiful girl who was his type. Umi noticed.

"Um, guys, this is my best friend Kiyomi," Umi introduced her.

"Hey!" Kiba said cheerfully. Naruto smiled, Gaara and Shikamaru nodded.

"Hey, would you like to go out-" Kiba barely managed to ask before Umi's hand covered his mouth.

"For a bodyguard, you have a lousy sense of danger. As a guy, you are way too much of a player. Join a dating agency. They might get you a girlfriend, if you stopped flirting with the receptionists," Umi said. Temari, Hinata and the guys looked at Umi in surprise. What the heck, they thought.

"No need to introduce him to me, Umi. You're Kiba, right? This girl is off-limits. You're not allowed to bring up that subject with even a ten mile long pole, ok?" Kiyomi said, smiling except that Kiba could sense that she was being completely serious. He nodded. Umi released his mouth. He looked at her.

"Ah, you going so soon? I was just beginning to think of something only we two could do," Kiba said, flashing a sexy smile. Umi's and Kiyomi's eyes went wide. Then-

"GO TO HELL!" Umi yelled at the same time as hitting the top of Kiba's head with her fist. Kiba went down with a big bump on his head. The others stared in total shock. Umi took a deep breath and then turned around and left.

"Ah! Umi, wait up! Hey, I'm going to take Umi home, so don't worry about her," Kiyomi said, before quickly following Umi. They stared at her as she vanished out of sight. Then they looked at Kiba. They sweat dropped.

"Dude, you seriously need to get a girlfriend," Naruto said, edging away from him a little.

"I know that!" Kiba said, a vein popping out on his forehead. Then he grimaced. "Holy crap, she doesn't need body guards, she needs anger management!" He rubbed his sore head. Then Temari and Hinata hit him on his head. Naruto, Gaara and Shikamaru jumped back.

"OWWW! What's with you girls?" Kiba said, grabbing his head before moving his arms to protect his head. Just in case.

"I really pity the girl that dates you," Hinata said angrily.

"I hope you die soon," Temari said furiously. Then she and Hinata walked away. Naruto ran to catch up with Hinata.

"Kiba, stay away from me for a while. I don't want your bad luck with girls rubbing off on me. Temari's scary enough for me. I don't need her to change into a demon," Shikamaru said, edging around him and then walking to catch up to Temari. Kiba looked at him and then looked at Gaara.

"You may be a player, but you really seem to rub girls the wrong way," Gaara said, still sweat dropping. Then he walked away. Kiba looked at the ceiling.

"Who did I get my bloody luck from?" He moaned angrily.

* * *

Gaara walked out of the school building. Then someone stepped in front of him. He looked up in curiosity and annoyance. A girl with scratches on her face stood in front of him.

"What happened to you?" Gaara asked.

"Ah, I forgot about my face. A cat was stuck in a tree and I went to help it but it wasn't very friendly as you can see," the girl replied.

"I see. Did you want something from me?" Gaara asked, wanting to get back to his house. There was a feeling around this girl that made him feel uncomfortable.

"Ah, yes I'm Hana Takamono from class E-1," Hana said. She's from the same class as Umi, Gaara thought. Hana took a deep breath.

"Gaara-kun, I love you."

Gaara blinked. What? He thought. I must have heard wrong.

"Sorry?" He asked.

"I said I love you, Gaara-kun. I've loved you ever since I first came here. And-" Hana continued. Gaara held his hand up stopping her.

"Sorry, but I'm already dating someone," he said. Hana grabbed his hand.

"Then dump her! Please, Gaara-kun, nobody else makes me feel this way. You see, if you make me your girlfriend, I can make your wildest fantasies come true," Hana said coming closer and whispered the last words softly. Gaara froze. Hana took this as an encouraging sign. She began to whisper things that she could do, things that she knew guys always wanted. She looked into Gaara's eyes. Gaara panicked inside. Then a sudden thought came to him. He freed his hand from Hana's grip.

"Sorry, but I don't like bold girls like you," Gaara said with his face showing no expression. Then he walked away from the shocked Hana. Once out of the school grounds, he ran. He didn't stop until he reached his house. Damn, that was way to close. That girl gave me the creeps, he thought. Even though what you said was true, a voice said inside from the back of his mind. As he heard this, he remembered a certain pair of blue eyes that shyly looked away from him. Why did I think of Umi at a time like this, Gaara asked himself, bewildered.

* * *

**Author's chat:**** Hey, would anyone like to take my sister away from me? She's so annoying! She keeps putting new ideas into my head and if this continues, the storyline will change! AAHHH! No, I'm not serious. I've been having trouble with writer's block. My sister helps me over these by putting pressure on me to write and also giving me an idea on what to do. So a large thank you goes to VampireKitty-chan! Thanks, little sis! **

**So what do you think of this chapter? I'm really happy about the way it turned out. Some humour, tension, shock, amazement and creepiness. (Referring to Hana's confession here) But things are progressing smoothly, I think. And finally 10-timer will be happy again! ^^ (Should I keep calling you 10-timer or should I change that to 15-timer? Or did you get another guy?) I'm really in a writing mood so I hope chapter four will write itself quickly! Oh and did I mention that I wrote this while on a bit of a sugar high? This has to be the funniest chapter I've written. I'm not that funny on paper! I'm too serious and to the point. But with my sister helping me, expect some humour! ^^**

**P.S. She wrote a story called "Akatsuki Switch" and it's hilarious! Akatsuki switches their bodies with each other and it all because Tobi wanted ice-cream! Now Akatsuki is on a mission to get back to normal! Wait till you read about Itachi! XD It's too funny!**


	4. Chapter 4  Kiba, you baka!

**Chapter 4 – Kiba, you baka!**

**Author's chat:**** It's really strange. When I had made a list of Akatsuki members, nobody noticed that I had not mentioned Sasori. The truth is, I had forgotten about him. Hey! I can make mistakes, you know. When I realised that, I thought it was ok, since I probably wouldn't be able to come up with something in the modern world that would suit a criminal like him. Do you remember me complaining about my sister in the previous chapter? Well, you see, she gave me an idea that is going to be great for this story. There's just one tiny problem. . . THERE'S NO SASORI! Sasori is crucial to the idea and he's not here! No worries though. I'm not going back and correcting my mistake. No, I'm too lazy to do that, plus it's a hassle having to change both chapters on and . So I'll just give you an idea on what he will do. Sasori will be a . . . a . . . oh! A robot scientist! It can act as an upgrade from puppets! Or is that a good idea? This will take more thinking. In the meantime, on with the chapter!**

**By the way, I'm thinking on making their thoughts standout as Italics. It will make it easier to understand when they're thinking, right?**

* * *

_Two months after the end of chapter 3 . . ._

"Hey Umi!" Naruto yells. Umi turns around to see him and Hinata standing some distance behind her. She runs up to them.

"Hey. What's up?"

"Shikamaru and Temari are going on a date after school," Hinata said, smiling.

"Really? That's great! They've been fighting for a long time now, haven't they? I was beginning to feel a bit worried about their relationship," Umi said, smiling back at Hinata.

"But there's a bit of a problem. With Shikamaru and Temari on a date and Gaara taking some extra lessons for extra points for his report, Kiba, Hinata and I are the only ones who can look after you this afternoon," Naruto said. Umi groaned inside.

The past two months Kiba had continued to try and change everyone's mind on letting him date her. Umi felt annoyed just thinking about it. _Why can't he just stop it and look for someone else?_ Umi thought.

"That means he'll be at it again. Geez, isn't there something we can do to get him a girlfriend?" Umi asked. Naruto and Hinata looked at each other.

"Naruto and I have been thinking and we came up with an idea. We'll take Kiba with us to the mall and see if he finds some other girl he likes. Then there might be a chance of him getting a girlfriend," Hinata said. Umi smiled.

"Sounds great! Although I feel sorry for the girl dating him because we would be doing this to get him to stop with the 'dating me' thing. Let's do this," Umi said, sighing softly.

"There's one problem," Hinata said.

"We can do this only today and you have to come," Naruto said.

"Wait, WHAT? Why today? And why me?"

"Because today, there's a sale at the mall. That means loads of girls. And you have to come because there will be no one left to protect you at home," Hinata said.

"Ok. I understand. I'll come. Right after school?" Umi said._It's just one afternoon. What's the worst that can happen?_

"Hey Naruto! Why did you call me here? Oh, Hinata and Umi are here!" Kiba said, appearing out of nowhere. (A/N: Figure of speech here. It doesn't mean he really did appear out of nowhere.) Umi jumped a little.

"Sorry, Umi. We called Kiba earlier," Hinata said. Umi nodded.

"Hey, Kiba. You are coming with us to the mall today. It will be only me, you, Hinata and Umi going," Naruto said. Kiba smiled broadly.

"Cool! A double date!" He said, looking at Umi. She frowned.

"Ok, let's get something straight here. YOU are going with us because YOU are going to be looking for a girlfriend. Understand?" Umi said, poking him on the chest with one finger. Kiba looked a bit surprised.

"Then I'm not going," he said. They looked at him, their mouths falling open.

"Why not?" Naruto asks.

"Cause Umi is the only one for me," Kiba said, hugging Umi. Umi stamped on his foot to make him let go. He did, muttering in pain softly.

"You were trying to get Temari to go out with you earlier today. Don't lie about your feelings, Kiba. I'm not the only one for you, as you often like to remind me," Umi said coldly. Naruto and Hinata sweat dropped. Kiba sweated a little.

"Ah, I was just teasing her! I think that she and Shikamaru look great together. I want them to stay together. So I make Shikamaru a little jealous and now they're going on a date. My plan worked out," Kiba replied. Umi looked at him.

"Then, try thinking of a plan to get a girlfriend today. And by girlfriend, I mean someone other than me," Umi said as the school bell rang.

* * *

_At the mall . . ._

"So do you see anyone you like?" Umi asked for the fifteenth time.

"Are you guys going to ask me that all day long? I don't see anyone!" Kiba said irritated. They sighed.

They had been in the mall for over two hours. And quickly getting bored.

"Dammit, Kiba! How difficult is it to find ONE girl that you like?" Naruto asked annoyed.

"Shut up! It's not my fault there isn't a girl here I like," Kiba growled.

"It is your fault! There are seriously many girls here! HOW COME YOU CAN'T PICK ONE?" Naruto said, his voice growing louder.

"Hey! This wasn't my idea! It was-" Kiba said before someone crashed into him.

"Itai," the school girl, who crashed into Kiba, said. Kiba looked at her. The girl looked at him. And froze.

"Sor-" Kiba began saying.

"Gomen na sai!" the girl said and ran off. The four of them looked shocked.

"What the?" Kiba said.

"Ami-chan! Wait! Oh man, she's fast," a voice shouted.

"I know that voice," Kiba said and turned around. "Suki!"

Naruto, Hinata and Umi turned around to see who he was calling out to.

A pretty girl with shoulder length, red hair with red eyes stood behind them. She gaped at them.

"KIBA!"

"Yo! What's up, Suki?" Kiba said friendly.

"Ami bumped into you, didn't she? Sorry for that. She's in a hurry to get to cram school," Suki said. Then she looked at the others standing next to Kiba. "Who's this?"

"Suki, meet Naruto and Hinata, who is his girlfriend and Umi, who I am trying to get to-!" Kiba said before getting hit on the head by Umi.

"Don't even go there! We came here for you. If you've been wasting our time, I swear I'll . . ." Umi said threateningly.

Kiba rubbed his head and mumbled.

They invited Suki to join them at a café where they had cake and tea and they chatted. Hinata and Umi noticed after sometime that Suki would chat to Kiba and then look away, blushing slightly.

_Oh my god, she has a crush on him_, the two of them thought. But it was easy to see that Kiba hadn't noticed one bit.

_That moron_, Umi thought.

"Hey, Umi," Kiba said.

"What?" Umi said, realising that everyone was looking at her.

"Pay attention. I just said that maybe we should go to the arcade with Suki. I'm tired of looking for girls," Kiba said. Umi sighed.

"Alright, alright. I'm tired of doing this anyway. Let's go," Umi said, getting up.

Kiba smiled and put his arm around her shoulders. Umi froze.

"Kibaaaa, forget it. Just stop it already. It's really gotten old," Naruto said. Hinata was about to say something when she saw someone standing behind Umi and Kiba.

"Kiba, let go of Umi," Gaara said.

Kiba immediately let go. Umi sighed in relief.

"Damn, I thought you had extra lessons today," Kiba said annoyed.

"I did. I just finished them earlier than I thought," Gaara said, shrugging.

"Hey, is it just me or are you getting a little jealous of Kiba and Umi?" Naruto said teasingly. Gaara blushed a tiny bit.

"No. I noticed some students from our school not too far from here. What would we do if they had seen Kiba and Umi? Rumours would have spread and then how are we going to . . . Um, who is this?" Gaara asked, looking at Suki.

"This is Kiba's childhood friend, Suki. Suki, this is Gaara, Umi's boyfriend," Hinata said. Suki waved her hand a little.

_So Umi already has a boyfriend. That means there's no chance for Kiba,_ Suki thought in relief.

"I see. And . . . Umi?" Gaara said, looking at Umi who seemed to have gone pale.

"Umi?" Hinata asked in concern.

"Is it just me or does that person look like Konan?" Umi said, her whole body shaking.

"What? Where?" Naruto asked, looking around.

"There! At the shop selling women's clothing," Hinata said, pointing her out. They all looked in the direction.

A woman with short blue hair stood looking at women's clothing in the shop's window. She was wearing a blue rose on the side of her head. They couldn't see her face.

"Ok, it looks like Konan but how are we going to be certain?" Kiba asked.

Then the woman turned around and looked _straight_ at them. There was no doubt that it was Konan.

"Oh, crap. Let's get out of here," Naruto said. The others agreed.

Suki looked at them in confusion.

"Wait a minute! Why are you scared of this person?" she asked.

"Sorry, Suki-san. She's someone we want to avoid. We're going now. See you some other time," Hinata said, walking over to Umi and dragging her away. The others followed.

Suki noticed that Kiba had gone after them, without even saying goodbye to her. _Dammit, why won't he at least notice my feelings?_

They meet Temari and Shikamaru outside of Umi's house.

"Hey, you guys OK? You look like you've seen a ghost, Umi," Temari said.

"We saw one of the Akatsuki at the mall," Gaara said and then told them everything.

"Crap! Are you sure she was looking at you? Damn, this means they know your faces and will come after you," Shikamaru exclaimed.

Umi's face turned white.

"Let them come. We'll just beat them up," Naruto said enthusiastically.

"NO!"

They looked at Umi in surprise.

"They'll kill all of you. You're no match for them," she said. She began to shake all over again.

"Umi, we were given the job of protecting you. We were chosen because we have similar abilities to Akatsuki. We won't be defeated that easily," Temari said.

Hinata reached out to comfort Umi, but Umi stepped away from her.

"You don't understand!" Umi said, her voice trembling.

"Then tell us so we can understand!" Naruto said, getting frustrated.

Umi shook her head violently and ran into her house.

"Umi!" Temari yelled after her. They saw the door slam shut.

Naruto was about to follow her when Temari stopped him.

"I think we should just leave her for a bit. She's in shock from seeing Konan and that probably brought up some unpleasant memories that she didn't want to remember," Temari said.

Naruto hesitated and then nodded. They walked home.

* * *

_Inside the house. . ._

Umi slammed the door shut. Her father looked out of the living room.

"Umi? Is something wrong?"

"Otou-san, I . . . I don't want them to fight Akatsuki. They can't," Umi said hugging herself. He walked over to her.

"What happened?"

"Naruto, Hinata, Kiba and I were at the mall and we saw K-Konan," Umi said stuttering a little.

"Umi, calm down. The head of Police chose them to protect you. So don't worry," her father said. Umi looked at him.

"But Otou-san, they're only teens! This is Akatsuki we're walking about! Mass murderers! They won't stand a chance against Akatsuki!" Umi exclaimed. Her father looked at her.

"Is that the only reason you think they shouldn't fight?"

Umi hugged herself even tighter.

"I-I don't want them to fight because, because they are my friends! I-I don't want to lose them, Otou-san!" Umi said, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. Her father hugged her.

"These past two months that you've sent with them, I've never seen you so happy. You smiled so much more, you even laugh more! But Umi, they were brought here to protect you. You need to trust them," he said, rocking her slightly in his arms to comfort her.

"I know that since the death of your family, you have had a hard time trusting anyone. It has taken our family a year and a half to gain your trust. You already trusted Kiyomi because you knew her from before. But you've spent valuable time with your friends, where you have opened a bit of yourself. You need to let go of the past and trust them. They will not betray you," he continued.

Umi pushed him away and ran towards her room. He sighed.

_Why now? She was so close to gaining the ability to trust people again, _he thought.

Umi threw herself on to her bed.

_Otou-san's right. I should trust them. But what if they die? What if they blame me for their deaths? What will I do then? What about Gaara? He's the first guy I've seriously taken a liking to. What. . . What can I do?_ Umi thought over and over in her head. She cried herself to sleep.

* * *

_In an unknown place . . ._

The door opened and Konan walked in. The door closed leaving her in darkness. Then two red eyes appeared through the dark.

"You're late," the owner of the red eyes spoke.

"No kidding, Konan. Did you finally decide to cheat on Pain?" another voice spoke.

"Hidan, shut up. Quit pushing your luck. Even your god can't protect you from women," another guy spoke.

"Don't diss Jashin-sama! You godless freak, Sasori!" Hidan snapped.

"Oh yeah, Sasori, how's things going with 'the brat', hm?" someone else interrupted.

"Shut your mouth Deidara! None of your goddamn business!" Sasori spoke. Konan started to make out the members of the gang in the room as her eyes adjusted to the dark.

"Oooh, touchy! What happened? She destroy her room again?" another guy spoke.

"WHAT? Sasori! Control that brat! Our finances are great but wasting money on repairing her room every time she throws a fit, I HATE IT!" one guy yelled.

"Kisame, shut up! And Kakuzu, you too. Besides, you've destroyed more rooms than her. Especially you, Deidara," Sasori replied.

"Has anybody thought of how to prevent 'the brat' from throwing fits? You know that all we have to do is find her sister and she'll shut up," someone new said.

"ENOUGH!" the first voice yelled. They went quiet. "Konan, report."

"On the subject that Zetsu so kindly spoke of, I spotted the sister of 'the brat', Madara," Konan said, smiling smugly.

The others exclaimed in surprise.

"Finally! Tell me more, Konan," Madara said.

"Her hair seems to have been dyed a . . . unusual colour blue. It is no wonder that we've had such a hard time finding her. She goes by the name of 'Umi'," Konan replied.

The gang spoke of various things that had to be done while unknown to them, someone was eavesdropping on them.

"Really? You found her? Ok, Important question here then. Is Nee-chan dating someone?" a girl spoke from the shadows.

The gang jumped and Sasori swore.

"YUZUKI! Go to your room! I told you never to eavesdrop on us!" Sasori commanded.

"But I'm asking an important question here! So, Konan, is she going out with someone? Is she? Is she?" Yuzuki spoke, hiding in the shadows.

"NOW, Yuzuki!"

"Ok, ok. But I want details or Kakuzu will have to cough up some more cash to pay for the damage I'll do," she said threateningly. And then, she disappeared.

* * *

**Author's chat:**** Wow! I thought I might finish this chapter before school started but I lost my idea for the chapter. And my little sis didn't help me that much this time, other than suggesting adding Suki.**

**Plus, I got a little bored with this story and that's why I rushed it a bit. Although I don't think I rushed it. Kitty-chan (name of my sister) said that I was rushing too quickly. What do you think?**

**I have also changed the way I'm writing. No, no, not the story! I mean that now that things are now going to be written in more of a fanfiction way rather than a book. Or maybe I just . . . no, no, never mind!**

**What do you think of the story? Is there enough emotion, action, suspense, etc, going on? I'm a bit lost on how to continue the story. That doesn't mean that I don't know how the story ends.**

**That's it! My week hasn't been good. Too much homework and too much stress.**

**Ok, ok, I'm leaving! Review me please!**


	5. Chapter 5 A blast form the past: Part 1

**Author's chat: ****Heya! I realised while reading a manga a while ago (don't ask me which, I forgot!), that for Umi to call her new parents Father and Mother, she has to address them as Otou-sama and Okaa-sama, and not Otou-san or Okaa-san. Sorry!** **And sorry for the long wait, guys!**

**

* * *

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**Chapter 5 – A blast from the past: Part 1**

Umi's father looked at his wife and son. It was 3 am in the morning.

"Something has to be done. She's skipped school for three days now. She won't see anyone, she's not eating and now her nightmares are back. Now you two are going to help me find a way to get her back to normal or so _help me_, I will do something that I _know_ I'll regret!" he said threateningly.

"Chill, Otou-san. You're always cranky when you miss a whole night's worth of sleep," Natsu said. His father glared at him.

"You're both right. Yes, husband, you need to sleep and yes, we need to do something about Umi. I'm really worried now," Umi's mother said sadly. Natsu put his arm around her shoulders while his father rubbed his eyes.

"Maybe we should try getting those new bodyguards to help," she said. They looked at her.

"How are they going to help?" Natsu asked.

"She was beginning to get used to them. And she was really happy spending time with them. Think about it. She's been more cheerful and she smiles more than ever. This . . . misfortune of spotting one of the Akatsuki members has shocked her. She's scared, so very scared of losing everything like she once did before. Telling her bodyguards, no, _her friends_ more about her past will enable them to understand her and then they can find a way to get through to her," Umi's mother said.

Natsu and his father looked at each other. Then they heard Umi scream. She was experiencing another nightmare. Rushing into her room, they comforted her and waited with her until she fell asleep again.

"If it will help Umi, then let's do it. Otherwise, she'll go back to the way she was in the past," Umi's father said, while shutting the door to Umi's room.

Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru, Temari, Gaara and Kiba waited in the living room.

"Right, let's get down to business. I'm sure you're wondering why you're here," Umi's father said, sitting sanza style on a floor cushion.

"Otou-san, at least let them sit down," Natsu said, sitting on the left side of him.

"Eh? Oh, right. Yes, please sit down," his father said. The gang sat down on the other floor cushions.

"Now, where was I? Oh, yes. I'm sure you're wondering-"he said.

"Otou-san, you don't have to repeat it," Natsu said, interrupting.

A vein popped out on his father's head.

"WILL YOU STOP INTERRUPTING ME?" he yelled, fighting with his son.

"Well, if you didn't take so long and didn't repeat yourself the whole time, THIS WOULD GO FASTER!" Natsu said, fighting back.

"_**If you two don't hurry up and shut up, Okaa-san's going to beat people up**_," Natsu's mom said threateningly. Natsu and his dad froze and quickly behaved themselves.

"Yes, Okaa-san," they said at the same time. She beamed at them.

"Now you two, just_** SHUT UP**_ and I'll take care of the business here. Now I'm sure you guys are wondering why you're here," she said, still smiling. They all sweat dropped. _Not again!_

"O-okaa-san," Natsu said hesitating.

"_**What is it, Natsu?**_" his mom said threateningly. Natsubegan to sweat in fear.

"Um, err, nothing, Okaa-san," Natsu replied looking down at his knees.

"Now, we called you here because you need to help us save our poor daughter. Because it's all_** Akatsuki's fault and I won't forgive them for what they did**_ and my poor baby girl needs you to save her," Natsu's mom said, her face changing rapidly from threatening to sad, then threatening to staring at the gang with puppy eyes.

Everyone sweat dropped again.

"Okaa-san, you're getting too emotional. And off-target. And they can't possible have understood what you want them to do," the father said.

"Sure we did," Naruto said. They all looked at him. "She wants us to protect Umi."

They all anime falled. (A/N: Sorry but this is the only way I could think of saying/spelling it. The only emotion term I know on how to write, is the 'sweat dropped'. So bear with me, please.)

Temari smacked Naruto on the head.

"You BAKA! We already knew that! They gave us those orders already! They wouldn't call us here again to give us the same orders! . . . Or would you?" Temari said, looking at the family.

"Err, no. Absolutely not," the father said.

"Hey, I have a question for you," Natsu said. The gang looked at him

"What?" Kiba asked.

"What do you think of Umi as? Is she your employer, your responsibility? What?" Natsu asked. His mom and dad looked at the gang, trying to read their faces.

The gang looked at each other.

"Well, we . . ." Shikamaru said then stopped. _Wait, what if they think we're getting to close to Umi as friends? Maybe we're just supposed to stay as bodyguards and employer? Or. . ._

"She's our friend," Hinata replied.

"Hinata . . ." Shikamaru said. Hinata shook her head.

"No, Shikamaru-kun. I thought about it. We are her bodyguards but we're also her friends. At school, she hangs out with us. After school, she still hangs out with us. True, it's because we have to be near her to protect her, but not once has she asked us if she could spend time with others. She was bullied before too. I consider her my friend. And I think all of you do too. Protecting her now doesn't feel like a job anymore. It feels more like protecting a friend," Hinata said. The gang looked at her in surprise.

"You know, I think that's the longest speech you've ever given, Hinata. Well done," Naruto said, smiling. Hinata blushed.

"Friends, huh?" Natsu said. The gang froze. _Oh no, are they going to fire us?_

"Shall we tell them our story? Okaa-san? Otou-san?" Natsu asked. His parents nodded.

"Your story?" Gaara asked.

"Yeah, our story about when we first met Umi and how she came to be a part of our family," Natsu said.

"Ok, hold up! Time out!" Naruto called out.

"What?" Natsu asked.

"It's going to be a long story right?"

"Well, yeah. I guess," Natsu said, thinking.

"Then, can I please get out of sitting like this? I'm starting to feel some cramps in my legs," Naruto said, grimacing. They sweat dropped.

"And maybe ramen? I didn't get to eat breakfast," Naruto said. His stomach growl loudly. They sweat dropped again.

"Well, I should have some in the kitchen. I'll go make some for everyone, ok?" the mom said and left the room.

"Naruto! We're trying to have a serious conversation here! Why did you have to ask for-" Temari said before being interrupted by Naruto's stomach growling again. Naruto scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Um, because my stomach would keep on interrupting Natsu from his story?"

Natsu's mom came in with food.

"There we go. Now you'll be able to eat, Naruto," she said smiling.

Then the whole gangs' stomach growled.

"Oh my," the mom said surprised.

"Well, this is because you people called us here at _6 am in the morning! _We thought it was an emergency so we rushed here without eating!" Kiba said, hugging his stomach to muffle the noise. The mom laughed.

"Oh, no! Sorry, it's just with Umi keeping us up, our time schedule has changed a bit and we forgot the time. I'll go make some more food," she said and left again.

"Wait, what did she mean by Umi keeping you up?" Shikamaru asked.

"Well, she-" Natsu said before getting interrupted by the growling of his own stomach. "Maybe we should wait until after we all eat. OKAASAN! WE'RE GOING TO NEED FOOD FOR ALL OF US!"

* * *

"Now, then. We're all full and I think we can finally get to our story, right?" Natsu's father said.

"Right. Now as you already know, Akatsuki murdered Umi's family and her village. What you don't know is what happened afterwards. Two years ago, I was working with the police group who was in charge of chasing down Akatsuki. And trust me; it was a really hard job since Akatsuki didn't leave any clues behind. Except for the way they always murder people. It's the only way we can recognise them. And the fact that they never leave anyone alive. So imagine my surprise when I heard that there was a survivor from a recent Akatsuki attack.

I was told that the other country's government was sending this eye witness over to Tokyo by plane. My commander in charge of my group gave me the order of fetching the eyewitness from the airport. That's where I first met Umi. She was the eyewitness as you know. But, when I went there I was expecting someone to walk through those airport doors and be confident and everything.

What I wasn't expecting was a sleeping Umi. Apparently, the attack on her village had shattered her trust in people. She couldn't bear to have others touch her. She had to be drugged in order for her to be transported here.

Of course even though we had brought her here, that didn't mean we would be able to get Umi to tell us her story. No, she was too traumatized for that. The first month we had her, she had simply stayed in her room, sitting in a corner and looking around the room wildly. If we tried to take her out of the room, she would fight us by kicking, punching and scratching us. At night, she rarely slept. And when she did, she would always have nightmares, nightmares so horrifying that she would scream herself awake and not sleep again for 2 days or so. Two whole months of this. We decided to get a therapist for her. The therapist specialised in major traumas and was one of the best in the world. But even she had problems getting Umi to say something. It took the therapist another month to get Umi to speak. Afterwards, the therapist left voice recorders in Umi's room so that Umi could speak about her experience with no one in the room. I remember Umi saying minimal details about the incident. Afterwards, Umi began to relax a tiny bit and started to add details. It took 1 month of recording her, to learn the full story," Natsu said, shuddering.

"Her therapist got Umi to tell us every little detail she could remember. I know that Umi doesn't have a photographic memory. I know this because of the two years I've spent as her brother. But the story she gave us, the details she gave us, they were so vivid and horrifying that I almost thought that I was there. I'm not surprised that Umi was so scared. She lost everything dear to her, her family and friends who supported her, her village that she had known for years. Umi's a person who is a bit dependent on people and this made losing her family and friends a whole lot worse. Without them, she was all alone in the world.

I told Okaa-san and Otou-san about Umi later that day. There was no way I was going to not talk about what had happened. My parents decide then, to talk to my commander and allow us to adopt her. At first my commander refused, but Okaa-san said that it could help Umi to relax around other people. Umi's therapist, when she heard about the adopting idea, told my commander that this would help Umi. So my commander said yes and Umi was adopted into our family.

That was only the beginning. On the first day that Umi came to live with us, she ran away. She had climbed out of her window. But, she didn't even get far. In fact, she never even left the garden. She had gotten too spooked by all the cars and people who were walking past that she had walked back to the house and into her room," Natsu said.

"My turn," his mom said.

"In the first two months, I spoke to her every day, trying to get her to feel comfortable around me. I would often sit in front of her room's door and talk for hours. If I ran out of things to talk to her about, I would practise flower arranging and speak about those to her. And at the end of those two months, she let me into her room. But I always had to stay as far away as I could from her in the room. But by using aromatherapy and flower arranging, I got Umi to start talking to me.

At first, she spoke about little things like how I arranged the flowers but then I discovered something no one else knew. I discovered that Umi-"

"Oba-chan! Oji-chan! Natsu-kun! Where are you?" someone yelled.

"In the living room, Kiyomi," the mother yelled. They waited for Kiyomi to appear.

"Hey, could someone explain to me why Umi's not . . ." Kiyomi said marching into the room and then stopping as she saw everyone in the room. "Oh, you had guests, I'm sorry. Wait a minute, what are Umi's bodyguards doing here? Something happened to Umi, right? What happened?"

"Kiyomi, calm down. And one question at a time please. Nothing's happened to Umi other than a panic attack. Umi and her friends here saw Konan in the mall 4 days ago. And her bodyguards are here cause we were hoping that they might help Umi to get out of her room and start living again," Natsu said. Kiyomi's face paled.

"She saw Konan? And then what happened?"

"We got her out of the mall. Nothing else happened. Except that when we brought her back, Umi was shaking and changing her mind about us fighting Akatsuki. Could somebody explain why someone who's not a family member or bodyguard knows that we are Umi's bodyguards?" Kiba asked.

"Shit! No wonder she wasn't answering my calls. Oba-chan, why didn't you tell me?" Kiyomi said, ignoring Kiba.

"You were away on a job. I couldn't interrupt you when you're working," the mother said. "Ah, Kiyomi, perhaps you would like to join us? We're telling Umi's friends about her past and I got to the part about Umi's secret."

"Umi's friends? I see. So you guys started getting fond of Umi, hmm?" Kiyomi stated.

"You didn't answer my question. How come you know about us being bodyguards?" Kiba asked.

"Because Umi already told Kiyomi all about us," Temari said.

"What? Wait, Temari! How come you know about this?" Kiba asked in surprise.

"Cause Hinata and I found out that day we all first met Kiyomi, remember?" Temari answered.

"Oh, yeah. Whatever happened to the Hana girl?" Kiyomi asked. Gaara flinched a little at the mention of Hana's name.

"Hana's back in school but she's not bothering Umi anymore. I think you scared her way too much, Kiyomi," Hinata replied.

"Hahaha! At least she knows now not to mess with me!" Kiyomi said, smiling broadly.

"What did you do to Hana? And what did Hana do to Umi?" Gaara asked.

"Sorry but this falls under the category for girls only! Remember I warned you that day?" Kiyomi said.

"I remember," Gaara said.

"Ahem!" Natsu's father cleared his throat.

"Ah, gomen na sai, Oji-chan. Oba-chan, you said that you were about to tell them Umi's secret?" Kiyomi asked. The mother nodded.

"Ok, then let's see, ah yes. . . Umi told me that she knew Japanese because someone had been teaching her. Except that Umi was being taught Japanese over the phone. It turns out that Umi's teacher lived in Japan and was not only Umi's teacher but her best friend as well. That person is-" the mother continued.

"Me. I was the secret that nobody knew about. When Oba-chan discovered that Umi still had one person that she could trust, she quickly started searching for me. Submitting a report on this to Natsu's commander, Natsu's commander quickly recognised me and told me about Umi's situation.

I can't tell you how much I had been worried about her. At first I had thought that she didn't want to be friends anymore, but when I tried calling her again and was told that her number didn't exist as well as her family's numbers, I was really afraid for her. I was really glad to find out that she was alive and was living in Japan.

When I went to visit her, I was surprised at how much Umi had changed since the day I had first seen her. I remember her crying a lot afterwards. And she told me all the details too," Kiyomi said, pausing. She sat down on one of the floor cushions. She took a deep breath and continued speaking.

"After Umi met me, she started to really improve. She started socialising more, eating and sleeping more. Nine months after she had arrived in Japan, we took Umi out for her first trip outside the house. We took her to a shrine as she's never seen one. By taking her to a shrine that wasn't too popular, Umi started her first outing to get used to being around people. I remember that Umi had been really nervous and was constantly flinching away from people when they got too close. She didn't like new people getting nearer than twenty meters away from her. Using visits like this, we slowly got Umi to get used to people. And when she wasn't going outside for trips, Oba-chan and I taught Umi Japanese.

Two months before school started, Umi was able to walk around normally, could speak, read and write Japanese quite well. And since she was doing so well, we thought maybe Umi could join a school nearby. So the last two months before school started, we got Umi to get used to going around the place without one of us there with her," Kiyomi said.

"And now I believe, we've told you everything," Natsu's father said.

"Not exactly. What did you mean earlier on about Umi keeping you up?" Shikamaru asked. The family looked at each other.

"Well . . ." Natsu's father sighed. "The truth is that since 3 days ago, Umi has been experiencing her nightmares again. She's not eating and stays in her room the whole time. We first thought to call Kiyomi over but Kiyomi was working. And we thought it might not be so serious. But last night, she woke us all up seven times. So we thought bringing you guys, her new friends, and telling you about her past. We were hoping you might be able to think of something we haven't."

Everyone remain quiet as they all thought.

"If you, Umi's new family, and Kiyomi can't think on how to bring her out of her room, then what chance does any of us have?" Shikamaru asked.

The family looked at each other.

"When Umi first went to school, she was definitely nervous. We thought it would soon disappear when she begins to get used to the class and make new friends. But somehow she didn't get along with others and started to withdraw into herself. We were beginning to think that maybe we would have to take her out of school but then the Chief of Police sent you," the father said.

"When Umi called me later that day, she was a little upset over having new people invade her private life, but as the days went on, you guys really began to open her up. So I definitely think that you guys could get her to come out. Remember, it's you guys that she's worried about the most, as she hasn't seen what you can do. Of course she's worried about her new family and me but she knows we won't go looking for a fight. Why don't you show her what you can do?" Kiyomi asked. The gang looked at each other.

"First things first. Let's get her out of that room," Natsu said. Kiyomi glared at him. "Now, what's your problem?"

"Geez, would it kill you to think positive?" Kiyomi growled.

"Ok, ok. Don't go biting my head off," Natsu said, backing away.

They marched up to Umi's room and knocked.

"Umi? It's Kiyomi. Come on out and let's have a chat, ok?" Kiyomi said out loud.

"Go away."

"Can't do that, Umi. Your friends are here and they want you to come out. They're worried about you too," Kiyomi continued.

"Go away."

"Umi, get your butt out of that room right now, you hear me?" Temari said.

". . ."

"What's to stop us from just going in?" Shikamaru asked.

"Umi has one key to her room and she has it. Which means the door's locked as well," Natsu replied.

"Then how come one of you didn't stay with her when she sleeps so that she doesn't get the chance to lock the door?" Shikamaru inquired. The family looked at each other.

"Um, didn't think of that," Natsu replied sheepishly. Everyone sweat dropped.

"Oi, Umi! Come out and have some ramen!"

"Naruto, I don't think that will work," Kiba said.

"Umi!"

"Umi."

"UMI!"

"GO AWAY!"

They looked at each other.

"Well, that didn't work. What now?" Natsu said.

"Any ideas?" his father asked everyone. Kiyomi looked at each of them, finally landing her eyes on Gaara. A smile slowly spread over her face.

"I do."

* * *

They waited outside the house.

"How exactly do you think this is going to work?" Gaara asked.

"It will work. I have a haunch. Now remember, you climb up the wall and open the window. Then you climb in and open the door. And voila! We can get in," Kiyomi said, throwing her arms out. Gaara sighed and began to climb.

"But isn't this forcing her out?" Natsu asked.

"Geez. Men. This is my women's intuition and it's telling me to send Gaara up there," Kiyomi argued.

"The same women's intuition that got you into trouble? Like that one time where you took Umi out to explore Tokyo and got lost because your women's intuition said to go the next area? Or that time where you took Umi boating and your women's intuition told you not to wait for the owner but to just pick a boat? If I remember correctly, and I should, the boat broke in half once the owner came out yelling to you that the boat was dangerous? Or how about that time that you-" Natsu pointed out.

"Alright already!Those were only a few times. My women's intuition is normally always correct," Kiyomi said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"When it's involved in things that have no connection to Umi. Strange. Every time you're with Umi, your women's intuition is always wrong," Natsu said mockingly.

"Wait, what?" Temari exclaimed. "Gaara, come back! It's too dangerous! Kiyomi's women's intuition goes wrong when it involves Umi!"

"YOU TELL ME THIS NOW?" Gaara yelled. Then the branch he was using to support his legs broke.

"KYAAA!" Temari and Hinata screamed.

"Oi, Gaara! Are you ok?" Naruto called out.

"I'm still hanging here, aren't I? I'll be more careful," Gaara replied as he tried to get a foot hold.

"Kiyomi, if my brother gets hurt or dies, I'm gonna kill you!" Temari threatened.

"Relax, relax. Everything's going to be fine. . . I think. GAARA, DON'T FALL OR I'LL BE PAYING FOR IT LATER!" Kiyomi yelled.

"Are you freaking serious?" Natsu said.

"Um, kinda? Temari wasn't joking around with the threat so I just wanted Gaara to know that he needs to be more careful," Kiyomi replied. Natsu sweat dropped.

"Hey, he's near the top!" Naruto yelled out. They looked up to see Gaara standing on one of the big branches that reached Umi's window. He looked a bit pale.

"Way to go, Gaara! Well done! Now get in there," Kiyomi yelled. Gaara prepared himself to jump the short distance to the window. He jumped forward, when at the same time, Umi popped her head out and yell, "What the hell is with all the noise-?"

Then Gaara crashed into her and they disappeared into the room.

Everyone outside began to sweat.

"HOLY CRAP! THEY'RE GONNA KISS!" Kiyomi shouted. Everyone looked at her.

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU COME UP WITH THE KIND OF SCENARIO AT A TIME LIKE THIS?" Natsu yelled at her.

"Gaara! Umi!" Temari yelled, running into the house.

* * *

**Gaara's POV:**

I jumped and only then, noticed Umi at the window. I couldn't stop myself and crashed into her. I turned as we fall, so that I could take the brunt of the fall. My back hurt as it hit the floor. Then Umi's lips crashed onto mine. We stared at each other in shock and surprise.

Umi finally realised that her mouth was still touching mine as she immediately jumped off me and backed away, clapping her hands to her mouth.

"Did we just . . . kiss?" she asked, wide-eyed.

I can't believe I kissed her. But that wasn't the only thing that had shocked me. Umi's appearance had changed in the three days that I hadn't seen her. Her hair which was normally neat and tidy was all over the place. She suffered from bedhead. And I could see her bloodshot eyes with the dark shadows underneath, evidence of the lack of sleep she had gotten.

"Shouldn't you be asking about why I just crashed into you through your window when your room is on the second floor?" I asked. _True, you would think that she would react to that first but we did just kiss so . . ._

Umi stared blankly at me for a second and then her face showed realization.

"What the hell's going on?" Umi asked, panicking.

"It was Kiyomi's idea, not mine. Trust me. I don't have a habit of doing this," I said, defending myself. Umi went deathly still. "Umi?"

"KIYOMI!" she yelled.

"Gaara! Umi! Are you both ok?" Temari shouted from outside the room.

"We're ok!" Umi yelled. That's when I notice something else.

"Um, Umi, do you think you could put on some pants?" I said, blushing and looking away.

"What? OH CRAP!" Umi exclaimed and I heard her opening her drawers and putting on some pants. As it was safe now to look, I looked around. Umi's room was a bit untidy. Her bed was not made, there were some clothes on her chair and her shelves were cluttered and messy. And she had a massive amount of manga and manga related stuff. Her walls were covered with different posters ranging from Pokémon to Fairytail. She even had a few manga character figures. Not to mention, she owned some clothes, bags and stuff with manga names or characters on them.

"So you love manga," I said.

"Yes. I've even collected many of the animes too," Umi said, opening one of the built-in cupboards and showing me shelf after shelf full to the brim with DVDs. "Wait, we're getting distracted. Why did Kiyomi think of a crazy idea to get you into my room?"

I heard more footsteps running up and then heard Kiyomi.

"Umi! Gaara, are you guys ok?" she called out.

"KIYOMI! HOW COULD YOU THINK OF A PLAN TO GET GAARA UP HERE? ARE YOU CRAZY?" Umi yelled.

"Um, well, you wouldn't come out, so I had to think of something."

"NEARLY KILLING PEOPLE TO GET ME OUT OF THIS ROOM IS NOT-AARRRRRGGGGHHHH!" Umi screamed as she looked at me.

"Umi? Umi! What happened?" Kiyomi shouted, panic penetrating her voice.

"Gaara, why are you breaking up?" Umi asked me in a whisper. I stared at her in confusion. Then she pointed at my back. I looked and saw my sand falling slowly to the floor.

* * *

**Umi's POV:**

"Oh, that's my sand protection," Gaara said. I stared at him._ What. The. Hell. What the hell did he mean by sand protection?_

"Huh?" I asked.

"You remember that the Chief of Police chose me and the others because we had similar abilities to Akatsuki? Well, my ability is to manipulate sand," he said, acting like it was completely normal.

"Umi? Gaara! What the hell happened?" Kiyomi yelled.

"Hinata, can't you tell us what they're doing?" I heard Naruto's voice. _What did he mean by that?_

"Hold on! What if they're kissing or-?" Natsu said.

"DON'T SAY EMBARASSING STUFF LIKE THAT! YOU BAKA ONII-CHAN!" I yelled.

"Umi! What happened?" Temari asked.

"Nothing except that Gaara's breaking up," I said.

"BREAKING UP? WITH YOU?" Kiyomi exclaimed loudly.

"NO! HE'S LITERALLY BREAKING UP!" I yelled back. _She would bring up that topic._

"You hurt Gaara! I'm gonna kill you, Kiyomi!" Temari yelled.

"Whoa, whoa, WAIT! Help! She's gone crazy!" Kiyomi yelped.

_What the hell's going on now?_ I reached for the door when Gaara stopped me. I looked at him in confusion.

"I don't know about you, but most girls don't like showing up looking untidy. No offense," he said. I looked at the mirror. _Yikes! My hair! And he saw it! Brush, where's my brush?_ I grabbed it and quickly brushed my hair to look tidier. I saw Gaara behind me. He was staring at the sand and it was floating towards his back, covering it to form a second skin. _Wow. _Then he looked at me. I quickly averted my eyes. Then I saw my eyes. _Oh no, I can't go out like this!_ But then I heard a few crashes going on outside my room. _Screw this!_

"What the hell is going on?" I yelled, opening the door with a bang. Utter chaos meets my eyes. The few vases and pictures, that had decorated the corridor, were in pieces on the floor. Temari was trying to reach Kiyomi but everyone else was holding her back. Kiyomi was trying calm Temari down but that just seemed to make things worse. Everyone froze as they looked at me.

* * *

**Normal POV:**

"Umi?" Natsu asked.

"What?" she asked, glaring at him. It was a really scary sight as her blood shot eyes made her look ten times scarier.

"What happened to your eyes?" he asked.

"What do you think? This is what comes from not getting enough sleep for three days," Umi replied.

"Wait, how come you didn't notice it before?" Shikamaru asked.

"Um, because I only saw her at night?" Natsu answered.

"And you're supposed to be her family! Notice these things sooner!" Kiyomi scolded.

"Enough about my eyes. What are you guys doing?" Umi asked.

"Well, you scared Temari by saying Gaara's broken, so she freaked out," Kiyomi replied.

"I warned you! If Gaara gets hurt or dies, I was going to kill you!" Temari snarled.

"First of all, I never said that Gaara was broken," Umi said.

"Huh?" they all asked.

"I said he was breaking up," she continued.

"And I'm not hurt," Gaara said, appearing out of Umi's room.

"You're ok! Wait. I don't understand. What did Umi mean then?" Temari said, puzzled.

"She means that she saw my ability."

Naruto, Kiba, Hinata, Temari and Shikamaru froze.

"Ok, what does _that_ mean?" Kiyomi asked.

"Well, it means-" Gaara said, when a loud voice interrupted.

"OI, NEKONA UMI! COME OUT! WE KNOW YOU'RE THERE!" someone yelled.

"Who the?" Umi asked and looked out of the corridor's window. The others joined her. They saw seven people standing outside on the lawn, wearing long, black coats with red clouds on them. Umi froze as fear and terror overcame her.

Akatsuki had arrived.

* * *

**Author's chat:**** Well, I must say that I quite enjoyed writing that chapter. Even though I got stuck, it turned out to be more fun. Plus it came with a cliff hanger. Yippee! XD**

**What do you think is going to happen now?**

**I'm going to take this moment to thank all of the people who've reviewed and favourite my story() and commented, voted and liked my story as well as becoming my fans ():**

**From Wattpad: Riela_pollie, Skylar365, AmandaElizabethMola, JacquelineSolis, Kakashilover, devilishangel99, xxLucyxMusicxx, ToshiroLover321 and fanatic1. I don't know who liked or voted for my story but thanks anyway! XD**

**From Fanfiction: VampireKitty-chan, BlueDarknessIceHeart, Nemo Nobody, 10-timer, NarutardKerry, meisme556677, **_**XxxBloodyHimeXxx, mangaLuVeR1st, misaai **_**and**_** FallenAngelFox. **_**Those people whose names were in italics are the people who are reading my story but haven't reviewed yet. Come on, just tell me what you like and what you think. I wanna hear from you**_**! **_

**But with both websites, there's a surprisingly big group of people that are just coming in and reading my story but not commenting or reviewing. Please, PLEASE review or comment! **

**Plus, all ideas are welcomed and if you have ideas on humour for the story, by all means please tell me! I'm relying on a twelve year old brain to think up humour. And my eighteen year old brain. (God, I feel old!)**

**This chapter has to be my funniest yet, don't you think? Or was the one before funnier?**

**And before I forget, Happy Birthday, VampireKitty-chan who turned 12 today (13****th**** of March)! Hope you have a wonderful year, little sis! ^^**


	6. Chapter 6 A blast from the past: Part 2

**Author's chat:**** Well, I started writing this chapter and a sudden thought came to me. What kind of house does Umi and her family live in? The answer: I don't have a freaking clue. =_= Yeah, real idiotic. Let's think about it, ne? The house has two floors (Gaara had to climb a tree to get inside Umi's room), a garden and the living room has floor cushions. (? You're probably thinking why I added that.) When I wrote this story, I always thought of Umi living in a traditional Japanese house. Or as traditional as you can get in Japan. I don't know. I haven't been there yet. When I researched people living in Japan (by taking out books from the library) I found out that people either live in western style houses (homes that we live in) or Japanese style houses (meaning the house had tatami mats, sliding doors, etc). And my pen pal in Japan told me that traditional Japanese homes are very, very expensive to live in. So could Umi's house be a bit of both worlds? Though it would be leaning more to the Japanese side. So, Japanese style house (the outside is Japanese style but has two floors) with garden (that must be a luxury in Tokyo, right?) with the inside being a mix of Japanese and Western style. . . Does such a house even exist? Oh, well, it's just a story. **

**You know what; just go with the flow of imagination. This house just won't look right anyway.**

**. . . I can't believe I just wrote about a house and the style it's in. I'm in a very weird mood.**

**Oh and special thanks goes to: (), Xxkitty-bonesxX, Remind_Me_How and CharlieBean for commenting/reviewing my story, special thanks goes to Replicaslonelyheart, Soa_Soraya and Xxkitty-bonesxX for becoming my fans. The support you all give me, tells me that I'm doing something right in my story. Enjoy!**

* * *

**A blast from the past – Part 2**

Umi, her family, Kiyomi, Gaara and his friends stared out of the window, down at Akatsuki. Then Gaara and the others quickly surrounded Umi.

"What the? What are they doing here?" Natsu asked.

"How do you think? They've been looking for her for the past two years! Plus she's a foreigner. She stands out in a crowd of Japanese people. And I don't think Umi having blue hair helps," Kiyomi replied.

"What's wrong with Umi having blue hair?" Temari asked confused. Kiyomi looked at her and sighed.

"How many girl foreigners with long, blue hair do you know that live in Tokyo? Other than Umi, I mean. Few or even none. So all Konan had to do after seeing Umi is look up any foreigner girls with blue hair in the list of Tokyo residents on the website and bingo! She knows where to find Umi," Kiyomi said.

"How do you know all this?" Kiba asked.

"I work for the military, remember? I work in the intelligence division and I sometimes have to look up people like that," Kiyomi replied. (A/N: I'm taking a guess at this. Don't know if this is something even possible.)

"You guys do realize Umi has just seen Akatsuki, right?" Umi's mom said.

"Oh, SHIT! Umi!" Kiyomi said and looked at her. Umi just stood there, looking wide-eyed at the members of Akatsuki in the garden.

"Um, Umi?" Kiyomi said and waved a hand in front of her face. Umi flinched away from the hand so violently that she banged herself against the wall opposite the window. Kiyomi sweat dropped.

"Umi, it's going to be ok," Umi's mom said, trying to reassure Umi. "We have your friends to protect you, remember?" the mom said. Umi didn't respond. The mom looked at the gang. "Don't just stand there, get Akatsuki away from- Umi, wait!" she called out as Umi ran away from them.

* * *

**Umi's POV:**

I ran.

_Akatsuki was here. AKATSUKI was HERE! What, what do I do now?_ I thought panicking. _Have to get away!_

"Umi! Stop!" I heard someone call to me. My head was too muddled to remember who it was. I ran down the stairs.

_Get to the door. Get to the back door._

"COME ON, UMI! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!" an old familiar voice yelled. I flinched as an old memory stirred . . .

_**Flashback . . .**_

"_Come here!" a voice called out before a man with a double bladed scythe jumped out of the shadows. . ._

_. . . Her parents shouted at her to take her younger siblings away. . ._

_. . . she had forgotten about the other man. He sliced her sister in two. He laughed._

"_You're not getting away. I'll sacrifice you all to Jashin-sama!"_

_Then her brother yelled. Fresh, warm blood . . . her brother sliced in two . . . the man smiled an evil smile that turned her blood into ice. . ._

_**End of flashback . . . **_

I gasped. _Hidan! Get away from here. Get away!_

I sprinted towards the door. Crashed through it and into the back of the garden. Akatsuki wasn't there. _Find a safe place._

"That's was quick, hm," a voice said. My head whipped in the direction of the voice.

Three members leaned against the wall of my house: Deidara, Hidan and Kakuzu. I had already memorized their faces before.

"Long time no see, _Umi_," Hidan said. _Why him? Why did I have to see him again?_ My mind flashed to the images of my younger brother and sister sliced into two by this man. I felt like screaming, but all I did was stare at them, not moving a muscle.

"So this is Umi, huh? Pretty cute girl. Too bad we have to kill you, hm," Deidara said and threw something at me.

Something jumped right in front of me, too fast for me to see. Then the light went out. And then I heard a huge _boom_. _Did I faint? I don't think so. Last time I read up on fainting, no one ever mentioned hearing a huge boom._

Then a crack of light showed up in the dark, widening rapidly. A soft sound could be heard. _What the-_

I saw Gaara standing there, his back facing me. _When did he-_

"Holy shit! Deidara, watch where you throw those things!" someone exclaimed.

"My ears are ringing. You asshole! Why'd you have to throw a bomb at her? I wanted to have fun and you had to spoil it," Hidan said.

"Oh, shut up. Art is a bang, hm," Deidara stated.

"You and your art! How about I show you the art of pain, huh?" Hidan yelled.

"Ha! You wouldn't know what art is, even if it walked up to you and smacked you in the face!" Deidara snorted.

"Sorry to interrupt your little art discussion but there's something in front of you requiring your attention," someone, I'm assuming Kakuzu, said.

I looked past Gaara and saw dust clouds hovering like fog before the big crack of light. It thinned and I saw Deidara, Hidan and Kakuzu still standing in the same spots they were before.

"What the hell is _that_?" Deidara asked.

I looked at what surrounded me and Gaara. It was sphere-shaped as far as I could tell from being on the inside. Then I noticed what it was made of. Sand. The soft sound that I had heard before, was the sound of the sand falling to the ground as it fell away from the crack in the sphere.

"It looks like a sphere," Hidan said.

"I _knew_ that, dumbass. What I want to know is _why_ is it there and _why_ isn't Umi dead?" Deidara said, looking towards the sky.

"We won't let you kill Umi," Gaara said. Deidara looked at him and burst out laughing.

"We who? All I see is one guy."

Then Kiba and Naruto jump put the window and landed next to Gaara, outside the sphere.

"_We_ won't let you kill Umi. Can't you count?" Kiba said, cheekily. Deidara glared at him.

"Fine then. Try and protect her, hm," he said and threw more things at us.

"_Noooo!_" I screamed. Then the darkness swallowed the light and several huge _booms_ could be heard.

"Thanks. What the hell did he throw at us?" Naruto asked.

"Miniature bombs. I'm guessing that's Deidara," Gaara said.

"And the other two are Kakuzu and Hidan. An unusual surgeon, a religious follower and the world's most fearsome bomber. What a great start to the fight," Kiba said happily.

"Could you be a bit more serious?" Gaara said as another crack of light appeared and widened. The sphere of sand was bigger.

"What the fuck? The sphere grew!" Hidan exclaimed

"Never mind that! Why the hell aren't they dead?" Deidara asked.

"I believe it's because that sphere is protecting them," Kakuzu said. He was definitely the voice that had spoken earlier.

"Ok, let's go," Kiba said and jumped towards Hidan.

"KIBA! STAY AWAY FROM HIM!" I screamed.

"What?" Kiba said, looking away from Hidan and at me. Hidan smirked.

"You're mine!" he yelled and grabbed the double headed scythe behind his back.

"KIBA!" I screamed again.

Just as the scythe was about to touch Kiba, sand formed around Kiba, protecting him. I stared in shock. Kiba jumped back to us.

"Crap, he's fast," Kiba said.

"My turn," Naruto said and ran towards Kakuzu. As he neared him, Naruto split into five. _What the hell?_

Kakuzu just stared at the five Narutos and then he raised his arms. Long red treads shot out.

"What the-?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Naruto!" Kiba and Gaara yelled. Then in mid-air, Naruto changed position and shot back towards us.

"Whoa!" Kiba said and dodged Naruto. Naruto was about to hit the ground when sand cushioned his fall. Naruto groaned.

"Ow! Thanks, Gaara. That would have hurt. And thanks, Shikamaru. I don't know what would have happened if I had touched those red things," Naruto said, rubbing his back.

Shikamaru came out of the house.

"Bloody hell! They just keep on multiplying!" Deidara exclaimed.

"Think fast, Shikamaru," Kiba said.

"You didn't have to tell me that," Shikamaru said, annoyed.

"HOLD ON FOR ONE BLOOMING SECOND!" Kiyomi yelled, her head out of the window. We looked at her. "What the hell's going on here? How come there are bombs, sand spheres, red thingamawhats and clones happening here? WHY IS EVERYONE BEHAVING LIKE THIS IS NORMAL?" Kiyomi yelled at them.

"Um, because it is normal to us?" Naruto said. Kiyomi glared at him.

"What are you people? How can you make sand obey you or split into copies of yourself or shoot out red thingamawhats?" she asked.

"I really resent that word. Can you not call it thingamawhats?" Kakuzu said, a vein popping out on his forehead.

"Do I look like I care?"

"Oi, oi! Kiyomi, calm down," Kiba said.

"Ignore her. Here's the plan. Gaara, you need to take care of Umi and distract Deidara. Naruto, Kiba and I will take care of Hidan and Kakuzu," Shikamaru said, softly.

"Wait, it's too dangerous! I don't know anything about Deidara and Kakuzu but Hidan is dangerous!" I said, panicking. I remembered a memory of Hidan slicing my siblings in two. _I can't let it happen again!_

"Umi, you have to trust us. This is our job, remember?" Shikamaru said.

"But-"

"We were picked for this job because we have similar abilities to Akatsuki. We've trained for years to be able to beat guys like them. We won't lose," Kiba said, smiling at me.

"But-"

"Come on, Umi. We're friends, right? Believe in us, ok?" Naruto said. I looked at them. _I trust them. I believe in them. But they're fighting Akatsuki. Even with those abilities, do they really stand a chance against Akatsuki?_

"Ok, Gaara, get her away from here," Shikamaru said. Gaara nodded and grabbed me around the front of my waist.

"Hey, wait-" I said before he started running, putting distance between us and Akatsuki.

"Oi! Don't think you can get away!" Deidara yelled and followed us. Hidan and Kakuzu were about to follow him when Shikamaru, Kiba and Naruto blocked their way. Then I lost sight of them as Gaara dragged me around to the other side of the house and stopped. Deidara caught up and threw more bombs at us. This time Gaara's sand sphere only covered the area where the bombs fell, rather than covering us fully.

"That sand is pissing me off!" Deidara yelled angrily. Gaara let go of me, dropping me to the ground._ Ow!_

Then he waved his left arm and the sand flew towards Deidara.

"Uwah!"

Then the sand was repelled back at Gaara.

"?"

"Kyaa!" I screamed. More sand formed the sphere to protect us from the repelled sand. Then it fell to the ground. Gaara stare in confusion at Deidara.

"Gaara, look out!" We heard Hinata yell from inside the house before another Akatsuki member tried to kick Gaara. Sand prevented the guy from making contact and threw him towards Deidara. The guy flipped over and landed on his feet before he could crash into Deidara. He had piercings on his face. Again a memory stirred; this time reminding me of the time that guy killed my parents._ Pein._

"_NNNOOOOOO!" _I screamed, hiding my face with my hands.

* * *

**Kiyomi's POV:**

I heard Umi scream.

"UMI!" I shouted. I ran out of the house. I saw Gaara busy fighting with two guys, while Umi sat on the ground, covering her face and crying.

"Umi!" Temari and Hinata yelled, rushing up close behind me.

"Hinata, help Gaara! Temari and I will go to Umi," I said, rushing towards Umi. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hinata running towards Gaara.

"Umi! What's wrong?" I asked as I reached her side. She didn't respond.

"Umi?" Temari asked, hesitantly reaching out to touch Umi's arm.

"Dead. Mom, Dad . . . killed by that guy . . . little brother, little sister sliced in two by Hidan. Everyone dead," Umi said softly. _She's having a flashback!_

"Umi! Snap out of it!" I yelled at her. Temari was about to say something when she whipped around and grabbed the long, black, thin bag on her back. She quickly spread it out to reveal it was in fact a huge fan. Temari hid behind the fan to protect herself as out of nowhere, a bunch of needles flew towards us. I grabbed Umi and quickly took cover behind Temari. Some of the needles crashed into the fan but didn't penetrate while a few of them narrowly missed hitting me as they flew over the edge of the fan.

"Damn!" Temari cursed. She cautiously peeked over the edge of the fan. I took a look too. A red haired guy stood there with what looked like a giant version of a puppet.

"Sasori!" Temari said. I could see her grinding her teeth a little.

"You know him?" I asked.

"Yeah. He's my brother Kankuro's teacher in puppetry," Temari replied.

"Puppetry?" I said surprised.

"Can't you see? There are no strings connecting him to his puppet," she pointed out. I looked and sure enough, he wasn't using any strings to hold his puppet up. I looked even closer. _There's some kind of transparent blue-glowing thing coming from his hands that is connecting the puppet to him. But it's not string! What the hell is that?_

"He uses chakra from within him and forms it into long threads that control the puppet. And those chakra threads won't break no matter what you try," Temari said, pulling her fan out of the ground. She glared at him. "I won't forgive you!"

Temari then used the fan and swinged it towards Sasori. A big gust of wind suddenly materialised and blew towards Sasori. _Gaara uses sand and Temari uses wind? How come they have these abilities?_

Sasori used his puppet to block the wind and then his puppet's hands and mouth opened and thousands of long needles shot towards us. _Shit!_

"That won't work on me!" Temari said and caused another gust of wind to appear, to knock the needles off-course. _Ok, that was really cool! If I had that ability, I won't have to worry about getting hit by bullets ever again!_

Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw Deidara throw something at me. _Shit, isn't this guy a bomber or something?_ Then sand flew up and caught the bombs. The bombs blew up, making me half deaf from the sound. Slightly stunned, I saw Gaara and Hinata teaming up, trying to fight Deidara and the guy with face piercings but they were having trouble as their attacks kept on being repelled by an invisible force.

Shaking my head, I turned and looked towards Temari. She and Sasori were exchanging blow after blow, the puppet trying to attack Temari head on but she kept on dodging.

Umi whimpered. _Shit, forgot about her._

"Umi, snap out of it! Come on!" I said, shaking her violently.

"Ki-ii-yo-o-oo-miii!" Umi said as her head whipped back and forth. I stopped immediately.

"Whoops, sorry. I just needed you to stop thinking about the past," I said.

"Ku-hahahaha! You look like you're having fun," a voice laughed out loud. I looked up. On the roof of the house, I saw a man with a mask just sitting there.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Madara, leader of Akatsuki," he replied. I fumed. _ This was the guy who caused Umi so much pain? I'm going to beat the crap out of him!_

"Why you!" I yelled and ran towards him. Then someone came out of the shadows of the house and blocked my way. _Great, another asshole who needs to get his butt kicked!_ I got ready to punch him when his face caught my eye. I stopped. _It can't be! How . . . why is _he_ here?_

"I-itachi?"

* * *

**Umi's POV:**

_Where did Kiyomi go? One minute she's here, the next she's gone. Wait, what if Akatsuki got to her?_

"Kiyomi!" I called out in panic. I looked around. To my right, Hinata and Gaara were fighting Pein and Deidara. On the left, Temari was fighting with Sasori. I remembered looking at his files. _Where's Kiyomi?_

I heard a choking sound behind me. I saw Kiyomi standing there, her back to me. _Phew, she's safe._ Then I saw that she was shaking.

"Kiyomi! What's wrong?" I asked. I quickly got up. Then I saw who was standing in front of her. He looked at me, his red eyes looking straight through me.

"Itachi," I said softly.

_**Flashback . . .**_

_. . . Hidan sliced her sister in two. Then another man appeared, his eyes were red . . . then her brother yelled . . . sliced in two, in an attempt to protect her from the scythe that the man had tried to slice her with . . . _

"_You killed him! Idiot! He's the one we're after! Now how are we going to complete the project?" the man with red eyes said._

"_Shut up, Madara! I wasn't expecting him to protect her. Besides, you could have easily have gotten him if you had come here yourself instead of using Itachi's body," Hidan snarled. Itachi glared at him. Hidan froze and then fell to the ground. He screamed._

"_Don't forget who's in charge here, Hidan," Itachi said in a cold voice. Then he hit Hidan on the head, knocking him out. He looked at me._

"_Now it's your turn, girl. All of my efforts wasted because he protected you from Hidan. Die- argh! My head!" he yelled and grabbed his head. After he shook his head, Itachi looked at me. His eyes no longer scared me. His mouth moved but I couldn't remember what he said. Then I fainted . . ._

_**End of flashback . . .**_

I gasped. _I forgot about that. I had completely forgotten about what Hidan and Itachi had said that time! And now I remember! But what was with Itachi? Madara using Itachi's body? What does that mean?_

Itachi moved towards me but Gaara jumped in front of me.

"Don't touch Umi!"

His voice jolted me from my thoughts. _Kiyomi!_

"Gaara, get Kiyomi away from him," I said, urgently. He looked at me.

"What?"

"Get her away! Now!" I said, panicking even more. He nodded and grabbed her with sand. Then he grabbed me and jumped backwards. He put me and Kiyomi behind him. I looked at Kiyomi. She was crying.

**Normal POV:**

Hinata and Temari regrouped with Gaara and stood around Umi and Kiyomi to protect them. Deidara, Sasori, Pein and Itachi surrounded them. Madara still sat on the roof, watching.

"Kiyomi! Kiyomi! Snap out of it!" Umi called out to her friend. Kiyomi just continued to cry. Umi hugged her.

"What's wrong with her? Did she get injured?" Temari asked.

"She's hurting on the inside," Umi replied.

"What does-" Temari said before Sasori and Deidara attacked, throwing needles and bombs at them. Gaara quickly created his sand sphere.

"I'm running low on chakra. I can't keep going on like this," Gaara said, panting.

"Where's Naruto, Kiba and Shikamaru?" Hinata asked.

"They're busy fighting Hidan and Kakuzu," Gaara replied.

"Damn! We could really use them about now," Temari said.

"You're tired?" Gaara asked.

"No. I just can't use all of my power because I would destroy the nearby houses. But having Shikamaru here, would mean we could think of some strategies to beat them faster," Temari said, crossly.

"Hinata, look for those three. See what they're doing," Gaara said.

"Hai," Hinata said and closed her eyes. Umi looked at her. Veins popped out of the side of Hinata's face, reaching towards her eyes. Hinata opened her eyes.

"They are . . . they're coming here! Gaara, take down the sand shield!" Hinata said. Once again, light broke through the sand and Shikamaru, Naruto and Kiba jumped in.

"Are you alright?" Hinata asked Naruto. The three guys were panting slightly. They were covered in small cuts and scratches.

"Y-yeah. Hidan and Kakuzu sure are difficult. We nearly lost," Naruto said.

"You mean you won?" Umi asked. _They seriously won? They actually won against Hidan?_

"Don't sound so surprised. We can fight, you know," Kiba said.

"WHAT? Hidan and Kakuzu lost?" Deidara exclaimed, shocked.

Naruto and Kiba smiled at him.

"Hey, how come you haven't beaten Deidara yet?" Shikamaru asked Gaara.

"Pein stepped in and I could hardly touch either of them. Hinata and I kept on getting repelled by Pein's ability. I don't know what to do," Gaara said.

"What about you, Temari?" Shikamaru asked.

"I was fighting Sasori. I can barely hit him! If I use full power, there's the danger of destroying the buildings around here," Temari said.

"Right. Now why is Kiyomi here?"

"She came running out with Temari and me, when we heard Umi screaming," Hinata said. She was busy trying to stop some of the cuts on Naruto to stop bleeding.

"Umi screamed? Oh, yeah! I remember! We wanted to find out what had happened so we hurried up with defeating Hidan and Kakuzu. Why did you scream?" Kiba said, looking at Umi.

"Not now! We're in the middle of a battle here!" Temari said as Gaara was forced to closed the shield as Deidara went nuts and threw bombs at them.

"How did Hidan and Kakuzu get defeated by you kids? How, how, how?" Deidara yelled.

"Calm down, Deidara. You're wasting your bombs," Pein said. Deidara froze. He quickly looked into his bag.

"SHIT! I only have a few left!"

"Oh, real smart. Telling the enemy how much bombs you have is real smart," Pein said, rolling his eyes.

"Oops."

"Ok, here's the plan: Temari and Kiba, you guys go after Sasori. Hinata and Naruto, go after Pein. Gaara, continue fighting Deidara. I'll go after Itachi," Shikamaru whispered. They nodded.

"Wait, don't go after Itachi," Kiyomi said. They looked at her.

"What?"

"Kiyomi, now's not the time," Umi said.

"But, they'll-"

"Shikamaru," Umi said, looking at him.

"What?"

"Leave Itachi to me," she said in a serious voice. They stared at her in shock.

"WHAT?"

"Umi, what are you doing?" Kiyomi asked.

"Shikamaru, help Gaara with Deidara. Gaara's nearly out of chakra, whatever that may be and Deidara's nearly out of bombs. The quicker you beat them, the quicker you can help everyone else," Umi said.

"What are you talking about? We're supposed to protect you from them!" Gaara exclaimed, the shock still showing on his face.

"I know. And you are. You'll just be taking care of the other members while I speak to Itachi," Umi said.

"_Speak_ to him? Why do you want to speak to him?" Kiba asked.

"I have a feeling; a hunch," Umi said, choosing her words carefully.

"_A hunch?_ You're going to get yourself killed because of a hunch? We already saw what kind of hunches a girl can get. Kiyomi nearly killed Gaara with a hunch," Temari said, angrily.

"My hunches are different. I don't get them often. And I normally have hunches when a really bad thing is going to happen," Umi explained.

"You said it yourself! 'When bad things happen,'" Shikamaru said.

"I meant that I have a really bad feeling, or hunch that if I don't talk to Itachi, something terrible will happen," Umi said, standing up.

"What would you talk about anyway?" Naruto asked angrily. Umi looked at him.

"About my past."

* * *

**Umi's POV:**

_I have to do this. It's the same type of feeling I had, just before Akatsuki attacked the village. I have to do this. For myself and Kiyomi._

"Alright, fine," Shikamaru agreed at last.

"What? Hold on, Shikamaru! You can't be serious!" Temari exclaimed. The others looked at him in shock.

"Umi has a point; that the quicker we beat them, the quicker we can help each other. But Umi, the minute Itachi makes one move on you, I'm getting you away from him," Shikamaru said. I smiled in relief.

"Thanks," I said. The others looked at each other and reluctantly nodded too.

"Then let's go," Naruto said. The shield collapsed and everyone ran and attacked their targets. I looked around for Itachi. I saw him standing in front of my house. _Think. Think! Think of that time. Try to remember what he said to you . . ._

_**Flashback . . .**_

_Two years and six months ago. . ._

"_Hey, Umi! Guess what happened today!"_

"_What happened, Kiyomi?"_

"_I said guess! Try and guess at least three things!"_

"_You come out, top of your military class."_

"_Yea-no. Um, would love to have that happen but no, that's not it."_

"_You won the Olympics."_

"_Are you taking this seriously?"_

"_You . . . you, you, you . . ."_

"_Oh come on! It can't be that difficult to think of something."_

"_Shut up! Loads of things happen to you! I'm thinking of something that hasn't happened yet. There's _very little_, you know. Ok, you fought against the government!"_

" _. . . Are you serious? You couldn't do something better than that?"_

"_What? It's something you haven't done."_

"_Here's something I haven't done, you bird-brain. I fell in love."_

" _. . . WHAT?"_

"_Yip."_

"_NO WAY!"_

"_I did."_

"_IMPOSSIBLE!"_

"_Ok, now you're ticking me off!"_

"_You're not joking? You're serious? Who is he?"_

"_Well, he's super cute, has black eyes, long hair that he ties up into a low ponytail, he works in the military school and my sempai, he's 22 years old and his name is Itachi."_

"_How did you fall in love with him?"_

"_He saved my team and I two months ago. We're dating now."_

_Two years and one week ago . . ._

"_Umi, he's gone!"_

"_Who's gone?"_

"_Itachi! He's been missing for over a week now. I've already reported to the police and my commander. I don't know what to do!"_

_Kiyomi, calm down. Didn't he leave you any kind of message, note, sms, anything?"_

"_Nothing! I searched the whole house!"_

_Two years ago . . ._

"_Die- argh! My head!" he yelled and grabbed his head . . . Itachi looked at me. His eyes no longer scared me. His mouth moved . . ._

_. . . Akatsuki . . . program . . . brother . . . weapon . . . Kiyomi . . ._

_**End of flashback . . .**_

I gasped. _Itachi had been trying to warn me._ _But what was it? I don't get it._

I walked up to him. He looked at me, his eyes devoid of emotion. _That's not right. I remember. That time he was warning me, I had seen the sadness, relief and secureness his eyes had. This isn't Itachi._

"You're Itachi, but you're not him. Itachi, can you hear me? I know you're in there," I said. He gave me no response.

I could hear the noise of the others fighting. I looked behind me. Kiyomi still sat there on the grass, watching me with tear-filled eyes. I saw that Gaara and Shikamaru had already defeated Deidara. They were now helping Naruto and Hinata defeat Pein. Temari and Kiba were trying their hardest to beat Sasori. I turned back to Itachi.

"Hey, answer me. Itachi!"

"He can't hear you," a voice said above me. Startled, I looked up. I saw a guy with a mask sitting on the roof.

"Who're you?"

"I'm Madara."

I froze. _He's the leader! The most dangerous guy out of the whole gang! Get yourself together, Umi! Courage._

"What do you mean, he can't hear me?" I asked, managing to keep from revealing how scared I was.

"Exactly that. He can't hear you."

"I don't understand. He can hear me. He's not deaf."

"Hmm. He's, well . . . not able to hear you. You could scream, shout, whisper in his ear and he won't hear you."

"Why not?"

The man laughed. It send shivers down my back.

"Because, he's mine to do what I want."

"What did you do to him?"

"Oh, don't get the wrong idea. I'm not gay or anything. No, I'm much worse. I have brainwashed him! Hahaha!" he laughed loudly.

I couldn't believe it._ Brainwashed? Isn't that something that only happens in sci-fi movies?_ _But if he was brainwashed. . ._

"Why did you do that?"

"I needed members to join me. He was one of the best in his field."

"Why do you need members?"

"To destroy the world? Ha! No. I wanted to test my abilities and have some fun. By gathering the world's greatest abilities, I wanted to experiment on what I could do. I collected Konan, Pein and Zetsu first. Their abilities are quite unusual, even for ability users. Take Pein, for example. He is able to repelled anything coming his way or attract it to him," Madara said pointing to Pein. I watched as Pein repelled Gaara's sand attack and pull Naruto towards him without touching him.

"Zetsu is a highly unusual ability user as he is able to become one with the plants and travel a huge amount of distance in a second. Then there's Konan. The world's fastest information gatherer and able to manipulate paper. Her services in collecting information has quicken my research hundred times faster. It was she who managed to find Hidan, Kakuzu, Deidara and Kisame for me. My experiment was growing into a bigger and bigger success," he said.

"Umi, are you ok?" Naruto, Hinata and Gaara ran up to me. I nodded. I saw that Shikamaru had joined Temari and Kiba with the battle against Sasori. I looked back at Madara.

"What is your experiment?" I asked hesitantly.

"How to kill people in ways others could only write of in fantasy books. What else would get people to fear everything? What could cause paranoia and destroy people? When there's a killer among them that can get to them with no way to stop him. Take your bodyguards, for example," he said. Gaara, Naruto and Hinata froze.

"Do you know anything about their past? Do you know why they're here?"

"They're here because the Chief of Police gave them the job of protecting me from you," I said.

"Ha! That's what they told you. But that's not the truth."  
"Don't listen to him, Umi! He's trying to confuse you," Gaara said.

"That's right, warn her. It will only convince her more. But we need to bring the others here first. Sasori, come here!" Madara yelled.

I saw Sasori stop fighting and run towards Madara. Shikamaru, Temari and Kiba ran towards us too.

"There. Now we're all here. The truth is that in their past somewhere, they've lost something very precious to them, just like you," Madara said, looking at me. I looked at the others.

"Is it true?" I asked. They didn't look me in the eye.

"With Pein and Zetsu, I killed Naruto's parents."

Naruto's eyes widen in shock and he looked up.

"With Hidan and Kakuzu, I killed Hinata's uncle."

Hinata gasped.

"But I found all of that way too boring. It was normal. Too normal. So I thought of ways that were impossible for others to do. Everyone except me."

I looked at him. My mind was trying to get used to the idea that Akatsuki had killed Naruto's parents and Hinata's uncle.

"I brainwashed Temari and Gaara's uncle. It was really easy. The man hated Gaara because he blamed Gaara for the death of Gaara's mother, his sister when she died giving birth to Gaara. I had him try to kill Gaara. I failed but I found out that Gaara also had an unusual ability. Able to make sand protect him, Gaara was impossible to harm, let alone kill. So I had his uncle commit suicide before him. Hahaha!" Madara laughed again. I felt sick. I looked at Gaara and Temari. They were both pale with anger and shaking slightly.

"And then, I discovered a problem," Madara continued. I looked back at him. "And that was that I couldn't brainwash every person I wanted to. Their minds were very strong. It took me a couple of years but I finally mastered the ability to brainwash a person so much that they could never return to their original selfs. And I wouldn't have been able to have mastered it, if it were not for my nephew, Itachi."

I froze. _No, oh please no!_

"_NNOOO!"_ Kiyomi screamed.

"That's right. I brainwashed my own flesh and blood in order to master my ability. I ordered him to leave his girlfriend and come to me. The police had gotten real good at finding me so I decided to leave the country. That's how I came to your country, Umi," Madara said. He was smiling. I could hear it in his voice.

"Who would have thought that when I had been looking for someone to test out my new ability, it would be Kiyomi who helped me."

_What?_ I looked at her in shock. She just sat there crying.

"Kiyomi was the one who gave me directions to your village. She's the one who had told Itachi before about the friend she had in another country."

"You're lying!" I said loudly. _He's lying. Kiyomi is my friend. Gaara and the others aren't here for revenge. They didn't betray me, they didn't!_

"Oh, I'm afraid not. If you hadn't met Kiyomi, if you hadn't stayed friends with her, you wouldn't have been my next target. But sadly, you did meet her, you did stay friends with her and yes, she _did betray you!"_ he said.

"_NNNOOOOO!_" I screamed. _Why? Why me? What did I do to deserve this?_

"Umi, calm down!" Temari said, reaching out to me.

"_DON'T TOUCH ME!"_ I screamed, walking backwards from them. Temari and the others stared in shock at me. Kiyomi cried. _You're not my friends! You're here for revenge. You betrayed me!_

* * *

**Author's chat: **** Holy crap, I did it again. A funny, suspense packed chapter with another cliff hanger! I didn't mean to! Honest! But I've written some many pages and there's tons more to write so I thought I have to end it soon. Plus, it is past twelve in the night and I have school in the morning. But, I'm writing the next chapter tomorrow. This chapter has gotten me all hyped up and stuff. Oh and I think that the next chapter or the one after it might be the end of this story. But no worries! I'm thinking of writing a sequel. But I'm not sure whether to write it in a two stories( like 'Konoha High: Trust me' and Konoha High: The sequel') or to just add a new summary at the beginning to the sequel chapter and post it here. What do you think? Of the idea and the chapter?**


	7. Chapter 7 The puzzle is solved

**Author's chat: ****THANK YOU! GOD, you people finally found time to review! And what a review! It made me really happy to know that my latest chapter was a great success! And now I have to write an even greater chapter! . . . HOLD THE PHONE! WHAT?**

**This chapter is the last of Konoha High: Trust me. I hope I have chosen the right title for this story cause I really tried hard to cover everything. Also this chapter is very long. Incredible long! Hope you like it! XD**

* * *

**Chapter 7 – The puzzle is solved**

Everyone was watching Umi except for Kiyomi who was still crying.

"Umi, please calm down. This isn't the normal you. You're being overwhelmed by the amount of information Madara is telling you," Shikamaru said. Umi just shook her head, backing away from them slowly. Tears flowed down her cheeks.

Umi's POV:

After they had tried to calm me down, they stood there, looking at each other. _How could they? I trusted them! Why me? Why do I never learn? I hate them!_

I was angry. No doubt about it. I was furious!

I glared at them.

"How could you? He revealed your lies and you still have the nerve to pretend! Is this a game to you? Did you have fun? Did you think you would get away with it?" I yelled at them.

"What? Umi, calm down. We can't understand English that well yet!" Kiba said.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" I screamed into the air. They flinched.

"Umi . . ." Naruto said hesitantly.

_Enough! I can't take this! I need to do something! I . . . need to kill them!_

I pulled out a katana from behind my back and rushed towards them.

Normal POV:

_A few minutes ago . . ._

Umi finished screaming. The group didn't know what to do. They couldn't understand what she was screaming out or why she was glaring at them.

"Umi . . ." Naruto said hesitantly. Umi froze. Then the group felt a murderous intent aimed at them.

That was when Umi pulled a katana out of nowhere and attacked them. They were so stunned that it wasn't until the katana slashed Kiba's stomach that they flew into action.

Kiba yelped in pain and jump back. Gaara immediately stepped in front of him and shielded him. The others split up and distanced themselves from Umi.

Umi immediately picked up her speed and raced after them, slicing at them as she as she got in range.

"Hey, this is crazy! Umi is slashing at us! We can't fight back because we're supposed to protect her," Kiba yelled. They all rushed behind Gaara.

Umi, unable to touch them because of the sand, looked around. They looked in horror as she grinned a sinister smile and walked to Kiyomi.

"Stop her! Shikamaru!" Temari yelled. _Only Shikamaru would make it in time!_

Umi stopped in front of Kiyomi and lifted the katana.

Shikamaru's shadow raced across the lawn.

"_Slap!_"

Umi's POV:

Pain shoot through my senses. I looked in shock at Kiyomi.

_Did she just slap me?_

"Pull yourself together, Umi!" Kiyomi said, looking me straight in the eye. "WAKE UP!"

"What?" I said confused. I looked around. Gaara and the others were standing away from me, looking at me with wary eyes. Kiba was bleeding from his stomach. Then I noticed that I was holding something in my hands. I looked down and saw a katana with blood on it. My confused mind clicked and I realised that _I_ had been the one to injure Kiba.

"What have I done?"

They stared at me in disbelief.

"You don't remember?" Naruto asked.

_What did I do? I hurt Kiba! Why? When did I-?_

"Umi."

I looked at Kiyomi. She looked at Madara.

"I don't care what you do with your life, but quit messing with other people's lives," she said, glaring at Madara.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't mess with me! What did you do to Umi?" Kiyomi yelled.

I looked at her in surprise.

"Kiyomi, what are you talking about? Madara just talked," I said. She looked at me.

"Try remembering what he did," she said, nodding in Madara's direction.

Confused, I did as she said. _Madara . . . what did he do? I remember talking to Itachi. Madara told me about his plan to experiment on how to kill people. Then he called the others who had been fighting Sasori and . . . then what? I-I don't remember!_

"What? What's going on? Why can't I remember?" I asked in panic.

Kiyomi looked at me.

"What do you remember?"

"Madara told me about his plan, I heard about what he did to Hinata's, Naruto's, Gaara's and Temari's family. And about brainwashing Itachi," I said.

"That was when you began acting weird. You started to shiver and then you screamed. We had thought that you were freaking out about hearing the news," Hinata said. The gang came closer.

"Then you screamed 'Don't touch me!' and we didn't know what to do," Temari said.

I looked at her.

"No, that can't be," I said. And lifted up the katana.

Kiyomi punched me in my stomach. I keeled over, the katana falling to the ground, next to me.

"I thought I just told you not to mess with people's lives, Madara," Kiyomi said. The gang gaped at her. I took a deep breath.

"How?" Madara asked, sounding angry.

"I already knew about there being people born with abilities. After all, it was Itachi who introduced me to this knowledge in order to someday prevent you from doing something really bad," Kiyomi explained.

"What do you mean?" I asked. She looked at me.

"Before Itachi even met me, he had already known about Madara and his activity. He had been trying, for ages, to find something to prove Madara had been involved in the various murders that had been happening to his little brother's friends. The Uchiha family was one of the few families which seemed to have their abilities repeated in the next generation. When he met me, Itachi had a feeling that somehow, I would be able to help him. So he trained me on how to counter the ability of the Uchiha family," Kiyomi said looking at Madara. "The Uchiha family's ability was illusion. Able to trick people into seeing something else, they later managed to develop it so that their opponents often thought that they were appearing moving all over the place with high speed. They became quite powerful. But as you can see, Madara has learned how to brainwash people by placing a very powerful illusion to block a person's memory and control them. That's what Madara did to Itachi somehow and I believe that he did it to you too."

"What are you talking about? He didn't control me," I said. Kiyomi sighed.

"Then explain to me why you attacked us? Why you were about to cut me with the katana just now?" she asked. I stared at her blankly.

_I really did attack them? And it's true that I tried to attack Kiyomi just now! I wasn't in control of my body! But what have I forgotten?_

I tried to remember what it was. Then I remembered. Kiyomi betraying me, the others here for revenge.

"Madara, which part was even true?" I asked, turning around to face him. He looked down at me from the roof.

"Why bother telling you? You're going to be dead in a second," Madara shrugged.

"What?" Kiyomi asked.

Sasori rushed towards me.

"_Sasori!"_ a voice screamed.

Sasori paused and shook his head. He looked to the left. His eyes widen in disbelief.

* * *

Normal POV:

Everyone looked to see what Sasori was gaping at. They saw a girl with long, black hair, blue eyes, wearing leather pants and jacket, black tank top and black boots with heels. She wore a black choker necklace with a red gem, an ear piercing with a small chain on one ear and stud on other ear.

She was being followed by a panting guy with light blue skin. He wore a huge sword covered in bandages on his back.

"Kisame, what's the meaning of this?" Madara asked. You could feel the anger radiating from him.

"I . . . couldn't . . . stop her. . . She destroy . . base!" Kisame said, panting hard. The girl looked at Madara.

"What, may I ask, are you doing, Madara?" she asked. Umi and the others gaped at her boldness. Madara glared at her.

"Shut up! You were ordered to remain in the base and not cause any trouble!" Madara said.

"So what? I'm supposed to just stay home while you come here and attack? I don't think so!" the girl said. Then her eyes glowed slightly blue and icicles flew straight at Madara.

Madara knocked them aside and looked at the girl. Then she screamed.

"Stop it!" Umi yelled.

"Don't worry. I'll kill you both," Madara said and shot a kunai at the girl.

Sasori grabbed the girl and moved her out of harm's way.

"Sasori, what are you doing?" Madara growled.

"Stop this, Madara. Keep her out of this," Sasori said.

"Sasori," the girl moaned out in pain. Umi and the others watch in confusion. _What the heck was happening?_

"Umi-san," Sasori called out. Umi flinched.

"Umi-san, please help Itachi. Bring him back. He already told you how to do this," Sasori said. Umi frowned in puzzlement.

"What do you-? I don't understand!" Umi cried out.

"Remember that night! The night you lost your family!"

Umi's POV:

_He had to be talking about that moment when Itachi left me with those words. Ok, think Umi, think! I already know about Madara's ability. Kiyomi's my best friend. But what do my brother, a weapon and a program have to do with either of them?_

Then I remembered something.

"Kiyomi, come with me," I said, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her towards Itachi.

"Ok, ok! Don't pull!"

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Madara asked and dashed towards us.

Sasori and Gaara blocked his way.

"Go! We'll distract Madara!" Sasori said. He dropped the girl on the ground. "Make yourself useful and help out."

The girl stood up.

"Ok."

There was something familiar about her. But I couldn't remember. Kiyomi and I raced towards Itachi.

"You brats!" Kisame yelled, appearing behind us, sword in the air.

Kiyomi pushed me away and as Kisame missed, kicked him with the back of her leg on his back. He fell with a yelp of pain and blacked out.

"Come on!" she said and pulled me up. Then we stood in front of Itachi. Kiyomi looked at me.

_Now what?_

"Kiyomi, how did you counter Madara's illusion?" I asked.

"I don't really know how to explain. I just know that I can do it. Itachi used to think that I had the ability to unravel illusions or something," Kiyomi replied.

"Then see if you can't break the illusion on Itachi," I said.

"I've already tried! Do you think I could stand seeing him like this?" Kiyomi asked.

"Ok, then . . . focus on breaking the illusion. Yes, I know you've already tried. Just focus with all your might on him and I'll try talking to him and see if that won't help," I said.

"Talking? Umi, how many times are you going to do that?" Kiyomi asked angrily.

I lost my temper.

"Then what do you want me to do? Punch him? Then I'd be no better than all those stupid government leaders that always cause wars! If they had just a bit more patience and negotiated with the opposite side, I'm sure we wouldn't have to suffer through so many wars!" I yelled at her.

"Ok, ok! I agree! I'm sorry, ok? It's just that . . ." Kiyomi said and looked at Itachi. I calmed down.

"We're going to get him back to normal. I promise!" I said, putting my hand on her shoulder in a gesture of support. Kiyomi nodded.

"Ok, let's begin," I said. Kiyomi looked at Itachi straight in the eyes.

_I guess that's how she counters the illusion._

"Itachi," I said, feeling a bit stupid as I knew I wasn't going to get a response. Itachi stared at me with a blank look on his face. _Come on._

"Itachi, that day you and Akatsuki attacked my village, you told me something. Do you remember? I can only remember a few words. You mentioned Akatsuki, my brother, a program and a weapon. I have no idea why you mentioned my brother or what you meant by a weapon or program. When you said Akatsuki, were you trying to warn me about Madara?" I asked. Itachi didn't even twitch. I looked at Kiyomi. She had a look of absolute concentration. I heard the sounds of fighting, as the others did their best to keep Madara away from us. ". . . And Kiyomi . . . You mentioned Kiyomi. Does . . . does this have to do with what Madara spoke of earlier? Did Kiyomi really betray me? Did she really help Madara? Please! You're the only one who knows the truth. Itachi!" I cried out, desperately.

He didn't react. I screamed inside.

"Itachi!" Kiyomi called out. I looked at her. She was crying again.

"Really, what kind of boyfriend are you? Your girlfriend is calling you and you're not even showing that you're listening. Do you know how much she cried when you went missing? Do you know how much you hurt her? And you know what? Kiyomi never forgot about you. She couldn't get over you and get another guy. She was always trying to find out where you had gone. If that doesn't show that she loves you, then I don't know what! She loves you, Itachi, with all her heart!" I said, beginning to cry a little. I wiped away the tears.

That was when I noticed the tear sliding down Itachi's left eye. I froze.

"Itachi? Itachi, can you hear me?" I asked. Then I had an idea.

"Kiyomi! Talk to him! Call him! Tell him how you feel!" I said, excitedly. Kiyomi blinked and looked at me.

"Hurry up!"

Kiyomi nodded and looked again at Itachi.

"Itachi? Come back. Please come back. I miss you."

"Tell him how you feel!"

"I can't! It's too embarrassing!"

"Do you want him back or not?" I asked frustrated. Kiyomi looked at me and then back at Itachi.

"Do you know what I've been through these past two years, Itachi? I was so worried when you disappeared, that only after the government military department told me that they had found you, did I finally feel relief. But then I found out that you had joined one of Japan's biggest criminal gangs. Do you have any idea how I felt then?" Kiyomi asked.

"Kiyomi, you can tell him all that later. Tell him your feelings!" I said._ What the hell was she doing wasting time? We're in the middle of a fight!_

I heard a scream and looked at the others fighting. Hinata had been hit with a kunai in her right leg. Naruto immediately picked her up and carried her to Okaa-sama, who was standing in front of the garden door carrying a first-aid kit. Looking at the others, Madara was trying again and again to get past them to me, but with the addition of Sasori and the new girl on our side, Madara kept getting blocked.

"I was so angry at you! I thought that you could have at least told me about wanting to join a criminal gang! And then when I found out about you being part of the massacre of Umi's village, I couldn't believe it. You wouldn't do that. No matter how much you may have changed, you wouldn't go so low as to murder an entire village's inhabitants. I tried so hard to find evidence that it wasn't you. Yet reports kept on coming in with more and more reports of you killing people. I . . . I was really beginning to lose hope. I thought maybe, maybe I should try forgetting about you, once and for all," Kiyomi said sadly. I looked at her.

"What are you talking about, Kiyomi?" I asked.

"But then I saw you again today and all those feelings I had been trying to suppress, came back. But they weren't the same," Kiyomi said, completely ignoring me. _Oh, great! First I try to help her and then when I ask her a question, she ignores me. But what does she mean that her feelings have changed? Oh god, please tell me she still likes him! Please don't let her hate him!_

"Argh!" Madara screamed. I whipped around to see Madara, his arm and legs bleeding, grab his stomach. A kunai had pierced the right side. I looked at the others. They looked completely exhausted and ready to collapse.

"That's it. I'll kill you all with this attack!" Madara yelled and pulled out the kunai.

"Kiyomi! Hurry up! He's going to come here next!" I warned her.

"I LOVE YOU, ITACHI!" Kiyomi screamed. _I'm hearing things, right?_

Itachi's reaction wasn't what I expected. He blinked and emotion showed on his face.

"I love you too," he said and hugged her. Kiyomi, after a moment, hugged him back.

"_Are you fucking kidding me?"_ Madara yelled. "My illusion was defeated by four bloody words?"

"Hey, you can't beat love," the new girl replied.

"Kyaa!" Temari scream. I looked and saw them standing or sitting on their knees, holding their heads in agony.

Gaara looked up at me.

"Run!" he yelled, looking behind me. I turned and watched as Madara came at me with a bloody kunai above his head. He nearly managed to hurt me when someone kicked him on the side of his stomach. Madara flew a few meters away.

I stared in shock at him and then looked at the guy who had rescued me.

"Are you alright?" Itachi asked. I collapsed on my knees in surprise. Kiyomi walked up to me. I stared at her. She did a victory sign with her hand and smiled.

"You actually told him? I wasn't hearing things? Although you were screaming loudly," I asked. She nodded. I gaped at her. Then I just sighed.

"About goddamn time too."

"Hey, what do you mean by that?" Kiyomi asked, acting offended.

"You should have told him ages ago!" I replied. She grinned.

"Yeah. I probably should have."

"Don't let your guard down yet," Itachi said standing between us and Madara.

"Right, right. Come on, Umi. Get up," Kiyomi said, pulling me up. Itachi froze and turned towards us.

"Did you say, 'Umi'?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kiyomi said, frowning. I looked at him. He stared at me in shock.

"Look out!" Shikamaru yelled. Itachi dodged Madara's punch. Grabbing the back of his jacket, Itachi threw Madara away.

"Itachi, can I ask you something?" I said.

"Go ahead."

"What did you mean when you said something about Akatsuki, my brother, weapon, program and Kiyomi? Was what Madara had said true? About Kiyomi betraying me," I asked. Kiyomi looked at me in shock.

"Because Madara had been controlling me for so long, I know what he showed and told you. Kiyomi didn't betray you. She would never. No, the cause of your village's massacre was your brother," Itachi said.

"What?" I exclaimed.

"Hold on! What are you talking about, Itachi? Umi's brother wouldn't want to kill his family and village!" Kiyomi said, shocked.

"You're right. He didn't want to kill his village. In fact, he never knew that he was the cause of the incident. The cause of the massacre was that latest program that he had been working on," Itachi said.

"Program?" Kiyomi asked.

"I don't understand," I said.

Madara gave up on attacking Itachi and jumped onto the roof, where he had first appeared.

"Umi, do you remember who your brother was?" Itachi asked.

"What kind of question is that? He's her brother, isn't he? She knows everything about him," Kiba said.

"No, I don't," I replied.

"What?" Kiba asked.

"I don't know everything about him. My brother and I, we used to fight a lot when we were young. My parents used to hit us as punishment. After a while, I didn't want to get hit anymore, so I decided not to talk to him anymore. We grew apart more and more until we were nearly like strangers. But I do know some things about him. My brother was a computer genius," I answered.

"Indeed. He was only nine when your family bought a computer and he started to play around with it to improve it. One year later, he was tested and computer programmers were forced to acknowledge that he had the same knowledge as some of the best in the world. At the age of 14, he was hired to create a data program to record a secret. That secret was-" Itachi said.

"- a program detailing everything about the blood abilities. I remember! I had been searching through his CDs and stuff for one of my games and I saw that CD. I was curious and I looked into the program. But it was too complicated to understand so I left it where I found it," I quickly interrupted.

"Where? Where was it?" Madara asked. I looked at him in surprise.

"What?"

"Umi, that CD was what Madara had been after. It contained information on DNA and the blood abilities. If Madara has that, he will be able to learn how to make himself stronger by manipulating his DNA and changing it so that it mutates and he gains more abilities. In this way, he makes himself a weapon. But when Akatsuki came to your village, the CD was nowhere to be found," Itachi answered. _Akatsuki, brother, program and weapon! So that's what he meant._

"You have to be kidding! You mean to say that, because Akatsuki didn't find the CD, you murdered all of the villagers?" I asked, horrified.

"Oh god," Kiyomi exclaimed.

"But why didn't you just go after her brother? Why did you go after the villagers?" Shikamaru asked. Madara just looked at him.

"Because killing the villagers would scare my brother into giving them the CD. Except that the CD was already destroyed," I said, remembering a past memory.

"WHAT?" Madara exclaimed.

"How-?" Itachi asked.

"It was a few days before Akatsuki came. My brother received a phone call and afterwards he shut himself in his room. He only came out two days later with a broken CD that I recognised as the CD with the blood ability data," I answered. Madara punched the roof in frustration.

"Then why didn't Madara go after your brother?" Temari asked.

"He did. But he arrived too late. Hidan accidently killed my brother when he tried to protect me," I said sadly.

"Wait, what?" the new girl exclaimed. We all looked at her.

"Madara, that's different from what you had said. You told me he escaped!" she said, looking up at Madara.

"He did. By dying," Madara replied.

"Why do you care?" Kiba asked. She looked at him.

"Cause he's my big brother, Toshihiro."

I froze. _Wait, did she just say Toshihiro? And her big brother?_

"Sasori, did you know too?" the girl asked turning around.

"Um. . ."

"Please tell me that that wasn't a yes! For the love of Jashin, it was bad enough when you left me back at the base with Fish face but you knew about Toshihiro-nii-chan being dead? How could you!" the girl yelled.

"Hey, quit using Jashin's name, Yuzuki!" Hidan said, appearing from behind us. Kakuzu, Deidara, Pein and Kisame stood behind him. They surrounded us.

"Itachi, Sasori, this is your only chance to choose: Akatsuki or staying where you are?" Kisame asked.

"Why bother asking? Sasori stays with me," the girl answered.

"I'm staying here," Itachi said. Kisame looked at them again and shrugged.

"So we get to kill the brat? Finally, hm!" Deidara said cheerfully.

"Not having to pay for anymore damages," Kakuzu said.

"Um, actually that's not true. She destroyed the base when I was trying to stop her from going out," Kisame said nervously. Kakuzu stared at him.

"Are you pulling my leg? Cause that's not funny, Kisame!" he said but saw that Kisame shook his head. "YUZUKI, YOU'RE REALLY GOING TO PAY FOR THIS BIG TIME!"

"You couldn't stop one little girl? You suck, Kisame," Hidan sneered.

"Shut up," Kisame muttered.

"Wait, what did you just call her?" I asked them.

"He called her Yuzuki," Pein answered. I gaped at him.

_Then that means that this girl is . . .Yuzuki, my little sister!_ I turned towards her.

"I don't understand. You can't be Yuzuki! Hidan killed you!" I said.

"I made it look like Yuzuki. I had managed to get control of my body for a few seconds and casted an illusion. Unfortunately, Hidan managed to slice into Yuzuki. That's why you felt blood," Itachi explained.

"Afterwards, I was trying to see if I find anything on your brother and found Yuzuki still alive. I convinced Madara to bring her as she showed that she had a blood ability," Sasori said.

"Then you mean to tell me that my sister has been with you? That she was actually alive? That you killed my family and friends because of a stupid disc?" I asked. I was going to explode, I was so angry.

"Oi, Umi, calm down!" Kiba said.

_Dammit! All because of one disc, one very fragile little disc, my parents, my brother and my village had to die. And my little sister, who I had thought was dead, was actually living with Akatsuki! GODDAMMIT!_

I had enough. I let lose my anger.

* * *

Normal POV:

"Kill them!" Madara yelled and jumped towards Umi.

"Umi!" Gaara yelled.

"Umi, look out!" Temari and Hinata screamed. Itachi and Sasori blocked Madara's way.

Then Kakuzu, Pein, Hidan, Kisame and Deidara rushed towards the others. Itachi was forced to protect Kiyomi from Kisame. Yuzuki fired icicles at Deidara and Kakuzu. Shikamaru and Temari had to dodge Hidan's attacks. Pein fought against Naruto, Hinata and Kiba.

Gaara moved to help Sasori but Madara threw Sasori into Gaara. Sasori crashed into Gaara, knocking them both to the ground.

"Ugh," Gaara groaned. Sasori got off him. They saw Madara rush towards Umi. Gaara got up and with Sasori, moved as fast as they could.

Then Umi's eyes glowed blue and out of nowhere, water grabbed Madara, covering him in a water bubble.

"What the-?" Gaara exclaimed.

Then the water rushed towards the other Akatsuki members.

"Wha-?" Deidara and Kakuzu said.

"Whoa!" Hidan and Kisame yelped.

Pein managed to repel the water coming towards him, but then water shot from out the ground and caught him.

"What the hell?" Kiba exclaimed. The others looked at Umi. She gathered the Akatsuki members in one place and turning the water into tendrils, slammed them into the ground. Then she threw them into the. Umi then released water shaped blades that tore off pieces of their clothes and injured them. They crashed into the ground.

"ARGH!"

Gaara and the others just stared as Umi grew more and more violent in her attacks. Finally, Akatsuki were covered in wounds. Umi then made a few water spikes in the air above Akatsuki. Akatsuki couldn't move, they were so tired and injured. She got ready to kill them.

"Stop!" Yuzuki yelled and grabbed Umi. "Nee-chan, stop! If you continue, you'll be no better than them!"

Umi looked at her, her eyes still glowing. Then the water fell and splashed all over Akatsuki. Umi's eyes turned to normal. She staggered against Yuzuki.

"Good thing you stopped. I was beginning to think I would have a murderer for a big sister. Don't worry about not beating them up enough. Just wait for them to heal and then you can beat them to a bloody pulp again," Yuzuki said in a cheerful voice. Umi looked at her sister with wide eyes.

"I have said this a long time before but I am NEVER, EVER pissing off a woman from Yuzuki's family. You women should be stuck in jail, with the key thrown away!" Sasori said, shaking his head. Yuzuki and Umi looked at him.

"Pfft! Ahahaha! Hehehehe! Ahahehehaha!" they began to laugh.

The others looked at them and then, Temari, Hinata and Kiyomi joined in. The guys then started to smile and even laugh a little.

Natsu and his parents stood in front of the house's door and stared at them.

"Well, it could have been worse. They could have gone hysterical, you know," Natsu commented.

"Oh, you!" his mom said, slapping him lightly on the shoulders.

"Not you too!" Natsu said, rubbing his arm.

"What?"

"Why are women so violent?" Natsu asked the sky. His mom punched. Hard.

_Weewoo-weewoo-weewoo! Weewoo-weewoo-weewoo!_

"Oh, that will be the police! About time!" her husband said.

"Is that so? Well, I see the ambulance is here too. Good," she said and walked over to the friends.

"Right then. Hinata, Kiba, the ambulance will take you to the hospital. Yuzuki, Sasori, you too look like you need to get patched up," she said.

"Okaa-sama, I just found out about Yuzuki and you're already sending her away?" Umi said, panicking a little.

"No, no. She's welcome to stay with us. We could become your new family like we have for Umi," her mom said. Yuzuki nodded.

"I'd like that very much," Yuzuki said, her eyes beginning to fill with tears.

"I want to go with Hinata," Naruto said.

"Alright, dear. Go right ahead," Umi's mom said, smiling. Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, Yuzuki and Sasori walked towards the ambulance.

"Now for the rest of you, I have a nice big First Aid kit that should have more than enough to bandage every inch of you. Now, while you do that, I'll go make lunch," Umi's mom said and left.

"Let's go, Itachi," Kiyomi dragged him away.

"Shikamaru, you and Gaara go inside. I want to speak to Umi for a sec," Temari said, shooing the guys away. Umi watched as they left.

"What did you want to talk about?" Umi asked.

"Well, I was wondering about whether you realised that we're not going to be protecting you anymore. Since Akatsuki has been caught, there's no need for you to be around us anymore," Temari said.

"Oh. Right, I forgot," Umi said, scratching her head in embarrassment.

"We'll still be friends though. After all we went through today, I don't think anyone of us will be able to forget you. Especially Kiba. I think he will definitely ask you out, since now you and Gaara are no longer 'dating'," Temari said, laughing.

"Haha. Yeah," Umi said, forcing herself to laugh. Temari noticed.

"You know . . . this is a perfect opportunity. For you to confess to Gaara," she said. Umi gaped at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Umi said.

"Ha! Umi, Hinata and I have noticed before we met you, that you liked Gaara. We're girls. We notice things like this. So, when you go inside, why don't you go and help Gaara with those cuts and at the same time, confess," Temari said.

"It's not that simple," Umi protested.

"Of course it's is. Confessing that is. Confessing to my brother, that's a different story. Cheer up! I have a feeling that he won't be so disagreeable to the idea," Temari said and walked to the house, leaving Umi standing there.

"Ouch! Give me that cotton ball," Gaara said to Natsu who was giving him First-aid.

"Ok, ok. God, nobody ever says thanks when I try to help," Natsu complained.

"That's because you're always poking people way too hard. Here, give me that. I'll take care of Gaara. You go help Okaa-sama with lunch," Umi said, appearing in the doorway of the bathroom. Natsu handed her the cotton ball.

"Why help with lunch?"

"Cause that's about the only thing you can do without hurting someone other than you," Umi said, dipping the cotton ball into the dis-infection liquid. She wiped at a cut on his cheek.

"Ow!"

"Sorry. This is my first time doing this," Umi said. They didn't speak for a while.

"There, all done."

"Great, thanks," Gaara said, getting up and then flinched, grabbing his arm.

"You hurt your arm too? Ok, take off the shirt," Umi said.

"Um," Gaara said, embarrassed. Umi looked sternly at him and he decided to do as she said.

Umi could see that she would need bandages for this cut as it was five centimeters long and a bit deep. She turned around and grabbed the bandages. Then she began to clean the cut.

"So, um, what are you planning to do since you will have free time again, since you won't be my bodyguard anymore?" Umi said, trying to make some kind of conversation. _Am I going to confess to him or not? Should I?_

"I. . . I haven't really thought about it," Gaara said. _I forgot about that._

"Oh, err. . . I see," Umi said. It grew quiet again. _Awkward! How am I supposed to bring up the topic?_

Umi finished with the bandages and started to pack things up. Gaara put his shirt back on. _Oh, come on! Think of something!_ In her frustration, the water in the sink started to slowly rise. Gaara noticed.

"Is something wrong?"

"What?" Gaara pointed at the sink. "Oh crap! This could really be annoying later on. How do I turn it off?" Umi asked.

"What caused it to activate?" Gaara asked and then saw Umi blush. _Crap, I think I might miss seeing that. Wait, what am I thinking?_

"Um, I was just thinking of something that was making me angry," Umi said quickly.

"Then try calming yourself down."

Umi did as he said. _Well, we are talking. But how do I tell him?_

"Umi, whatever you're doing, I don't think it's helping," Gaara said. Umi looked to see what he meant. The water was now swirling around the ceiling dangerously.

"AaahHH! Crap!" Umi said, sitting on her feet and wrapping her arms around her head in embarrassment. Gaara laughed.

"Really, what are you doing?" he asked.

"Well, I can't help it! I'm trying to think of a way to say what I really want to say and this isn't helping!" Umi wailed.

"What is it that you're trying to say then?" Gaara asked. Umi blushed red.

"Um . . . err . . . well, you see . . . um," Umi stuttered. _This is it!_ "What do you think of Kiba dating me?"

"What?" Gaara asked.

"Um, no, that's not I wanted to ask!" Umi said, trying to desperately erase what she had just said. _Crap! Why the hell did I say that?_

"Forget it. If you're asking about Kiba, I'm sure that he'll want to go out with you," Gaara said, walking to the door. _Why do I feel so disappointed?_

"Wait!"

Gaara paused as Umi grabbed his sleeve. He looked at her.

"I-I don't like Kiba that way!"

"Then why bring it up?"

"Because, because . . . I don't know! It's all Temari's fault for bring it up! I couldn't stop thinking about it!" Umi said quickly.

"Again, why? If you don't like Kiba and Temari spoke to you before about it, then why did you suddenly ask me what I think about Kiba dating you?" Gaara asked, getting more and more confused. _What the hell is going on in her head?_ Umi let go of his sleeve.

"This is soo much easier in mangas," Umi said, hiding her face with her hands.

"What is easier?"

"Confessing to the guy you like!" Umi said, removing her hands and losing her temper. Gaara stared at her.

"What?"

"Oh, god! I said that out loud!" Umi said, covering her mouth.

"You like me?" Gaara asked. _Is she serious?_

"Yes!" Umi said and then covered her face with her hands again in embarrassment. _God, someone put me out of my misery!_

"You're really serious?"

"God! How long does it take to convince you? Yes, I'm perfectly serious! I probably wouldn't have told you yet except that Temari got my hopes up and you kissing me earlier today doesn't exactly convince me that you hate my guts or something," Umi exclaimed.

"Um, well that was . . ." Gaara said, a bit embarrassed at the mention of the kiss. Then the door banged open and Temari and Kiyomi fell inside. Gaara and Umi looked at them in surprise.

"You kissed today? My god, Umi, you're always so late in telling me these things!" Kiyomi said.

"No kidding! So I didn't even have to talk to you about confessing to Gaara!" Temari said. Gaara and Umi blushed a deep red.

"Um, hello, Temari? Get off me!" Kiyomi shouted. Temari quickly stood up.

"Whoops!"

"Um, exactly what were you two doing by the door?" Umi asked, crossing her arms.

"Um . . . juice, anyone?" Kiyomi asked, holding out a can of juice. Umi glared at her. "Oh, I hear Itachi calling me. Bye!"

Kiyomi ran out of the room with Temari close behind her. Umi shook her head and was about to close the door when Kiyomi yelled out loud to the entire house.

"UMI AND GAARA ARE DATING FOR REAL NOW AND THEY KISSED!"

"_**KIYOMI!**_" Umi screamed at her.

"It's ok. Sort of. We are dating after all," Gaara said, stopping her from running out of the room. Umi looked at him in shock.

"What? No, no! Kiyomi made you feel obliged to agree. You can't pretend! I'll feel more hurt if you just pretend to like me than if you just reject me," Umi said. _Dammit, Kiyomi! How am I supposed to know how he feels about me now?_

"Umi-"

"Ack, what do I do now? This wasn't supposed to happen like this. You either accept or reject me. How am I supposed to know what you really feel?" Umi wailed.

Gaara grabbed her and kissed her. Umi froze in surprise. The water that had been floating in the air fell, right onto them. They came apart with a gasp.

"Cold!"

"Ok, you seriously need to do something about that. I don't want that happening every time," Gaara said, shaking the water out of his hair. Umi gaped at him. "What now?"

"You said, 'happening every time'," Umi said.

"You do realise that that's what couples do, right? Or didn't you want to date me?" Gaara asked. Umi smiled brightly.

* * *

Itachi's POV:

Kiyomi walked into the room.

"Kiyomi, why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Yell to everyone about Gaara and Umi," I said. Kiyomi looks at me.

"Well, I just couldn't help it! Teasing her is so much fun! And I just couldn't resist shouting to the whole house!" Kiyomi answers, laughing like a maniac. I face-palm myself. _I don't get this girl!_

"You're impossible!" I exclaim.

"Urusai! What the heck do you know about girls!" Kiyomi shouts. She turned her back on me and reached for the First-Aid kit. Then she grabbed the disinfectant and some cotton balls. Kiyomi then grabbed my hand and dabbed at it with the disinfectant. I smiled very softly. _Ow! That really stings!_ She continued with the dabbing. _Ok, that one really stinged! _ I look at her and notice a familiar look in her eyes. _It's the same one Umi had had when she had been complaining to me about Kiyomi crying and how I was a bad boyfriend. Don't tell me she's mad!_

As the silence stretched, I realised that I had to make the first move.

"Are you mad at me or something, Kiyomi?" I asked cautiously.

"What do you think? Of course I am!" Kiyomi said, crossly. _Oh, boy._

"Do you remember what I said? Were you able to hear me?" Kiyomi said, looking at me. I thought back. _That time, when she was trying to get me back from Uncle's control . . . Even though I was under his control, I still saw and heard everything that went on around me . . ._

"Yes, I could hear and I remember. I'm sorry, Kiyomi," I said. This time, she glared at me.

"Sorry doesn't cut it! Two years! You think a 'I'm sorry' is going to make up for those two years? You think you might be able to do this again and in two years' time, say 'I'm sorry' again? Forget it!" Kiyomi snapped at me. _I knew it. Two years was too much. No matter how much a person loves another, if that person disappears for too long, that person will feel betrayed and won't wish to be together anymore,_ I thought to myself, feeling guilty. _Even if she told me that she loves me_ _back then, those were the feelings she kept remembering from two years ago. She probably thought it after the fight with Madara and realised that she no longer feels the same for me as she did back then. She's going to break up with me._

"But, there's a way for you to be forgiven, Itachi. I have thought things over and I've realised that . . . my feelings have changed. I have always loved you as a boyfriend but after these two years, that has changed. To make up for your two years of absence, I want you to . . ." Kiyomi said. _Her feelings have changed? I was right . . . I'm a fool for thinking that she'd continue to date me,_ I thought again. My heart clinched.

"I want you to marry me," Kiyomi announced.

" . . ._** WHAT?**_" I exclaimed.

_Time skip to lunchtime in the kitchen with the others . . ._

Kiyomi walked into the kitchen, her eyes slightly red from crying. Umi stopped smiling when she saw her. She walked over to Kiyomi, with two mugs in her hand.

"What happened?"

"Huh?"

"You were crying earlier right? Your eyes are red," Umi pointed out.

"Oh, right. Yeah, they would be. Can I have something to drink? I need something to calm down," Kiyomi said, rubbing her eyes slightly. Umi handed her the second mug. Kiyomi swallowed some of the juice inside and then sighed.

"So what happened?"

"Well, Itachi . . . he . . ." Kiyomi said slowly and then her eyes started to water. Umi panicked.

"What did he do? Kiyomi!"

"He, he, HE SAID YES!" Kiyomi exclaimed. Umi looked at her puzzled.

"You're not making any sense. What did he say yes to?"

"Ah, Sorry, sorry! He said yes to . . . well, he . . . Argh! We're getting married!" Kiyomi burst out. Umi stared at her. Then her mug smashed on the floor.

"_**?**_" Everyone yelled. Kiyomi looked surprised at the reaction.

"Ki-Ki-Ki-kiyomi . . . w-w-w-w-wh-what do you mean m-m-m-married?" Umi stuttered.

"Exactly what it means. Why, what's the problem?" Kiyomi asked innocently. Everyone looked at her amazed.

"Kiyomi, please tell me you're not one of those people who don't understand the real meaning of getting married!" Temari exclaimed. Kiyomi pouted at her.

"Of course I know! I'm 18, for god's sake! Getting married is when people who are serious about each other, decide to take the next step in their relationship and get married. They live in the same house and stuff," Kiyomi replied. They sweat dropped.

"A-anything else?" Natsu asked. His mom hit him over the head. He opened his mouth to say something but she glared so menacingly that he froze in fright.

"Ki-Yo-MIIIIIIII!" Umi said, grabbing her upper arms. "Are you crazy? You're only 18! You're way too young!" Umi continued, shaking her back and forth.

"C-c-calm down, Umi! Itachi already said yes," Shikamaru said. Umi froze.

"Ow. Did you calm down, Umi?" Kiyomi said, rubbing her neck and then looking at Umi. Then she froze. "Err, um, U-umi?"

"Itachi said yes . . . Itachi said YES! You mean to tell me that YOU were the one to ask HIM . . . !" Umi asked, freaking out. Kiyomi backed away a bit, holding out her hands.

"U-u-umi . . ."

"What's going on?" Itachi said, walking into the room. They all stared at him, Kiyomi begging with her eyes for him to save her. Itachi sweated a bit. "Um, did I miss something?"

Then the water in the room began to float.

"You . . . DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU JUST AGREED TO?" Umi yelled at him. Itachi looked more and more alarmed.

"Um, about that-"

"_**ARE YOU FREAKING CRAZY? SHE'S EIGHTEEN! YOU JUST GOT BACK! YOU, YOU . . . FREAKING CRAZY BAKA!**_" Umi screamed. Now everyone was backing away from her.

"U-umi, calm down! It's not so bad! It's not like we're going to marry today! The wedding is only in three months time!" Kiyomi said, nervously. Silence reigned for a minute. Itachi looked at Kiyomi.

"Do you want to attend a wedding or a funeral?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Kiyomi asked.

"That . . . was definitely the wrong thing to say at a time like this!" Natsu yelped.

Then all the water rushed towards Itachi.

"GAHHH! UMI!" Kiyomi screamed.

_Three months later . . ._

Kiyomi was in the bride's dressing room, with Umi helping her to get ready. The others were waiting in the church room.

"Hey, Umi?"

"What, Kiyomi? If you're asking if you can move, don't! I'm nearly done with this veil!"

"I wasn't going to ask about that! Although it would be nice to move . . ."

"Not unless you want me to start from the very beginning?" Kiyomi sweat dropped.

"No, thank you."

"Good, because my arms are anyway aching from trying to get this right. God, how could Okaa-sama leave me to do this? And why did you let her choose the veil? It's so annoying!"

"Um, Umi, you have seen your mom when she gets scary, right?" Umi paled.

"Um, um, yeah. . ."

"Then you will understand that I had no choice."

"Right, right. Ah! I'm done! Ow, my arms! Ok, turn around. . . Holy crap, Kiyomi! You look like one of those models in that wedding gown catalogue book! Okaa-sama chose the right things!" Umi exclaimed. Then tears appeared at Kiyomi's eyes.

"GEH! What are you doing? You'll smear the make-up, the make-up!" Umi said.

"Forget the damn make-up! I think I'm suffering from cold feet," Kiyomi snapped. Umi looked at her confused.

"Cold feet? But it's warm in here."

"NOT THAT KIND OF COLD FEET! COLD FEET AS IN THAT, THAT B-bride's cold feet . . . something."

"Ooohh! Wait, what? You're regretting the wedding already? You're the one who proposed!"

"I know that! But . . . I don't think I can do this," Kiyomi said, hiding her face with her hands. Umi tapped her foot.

"Are you crazy? You proposed to him after you got him back, nearly got him killed because you told me that the wedding was in three months, you planned the wedding with Okaa-sama's help and now when it's the day of the wedding, YOU THINK YOU CAN'T DO IT? ARE YOU PULLING MY LEG?" Umi yelled.

"But-"

"NO BUTS! Let me ask you this: are you sure you don't think you can go through with the wedding? You'll be leaving Itachi at the altar, breaking his heart, he's bound to be embarrassed big time, everyone will be scandalized and at the end of the day, Itachi will probably do suicide." Kiyomi sweat dropped.

"Umi?"

"Yes?"

"Did you read too many mangas or books about runaway brides?"

"Um . . . maybe?"

"No wonder you are saying weird things."

"Hey, I had to be prepared for every situation! Although, I think that those books messed with my head too much."

"You think?" Kiyomi said sarcastically.

"OI! Besides, going off topic here. Are you-?"

"Hell no! I'm going through this! Sure, I might be rushing this a bit, but I love him and I'm going to do this!"

"By the way, are you all packed for the honeymoon?" Umi said.

"What do you mean? You helped me pack!"

"Did you even bother to take a look inside?" Kiyomi froze.

"Umi, what did you do?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just have to help the newly-wed couple have more fun at night."

"UMI!" Kiyomi shrieked, blushing bright red.

"What? The girls and I checked out what sizes your underwear are so everything should fit. Besides, you need to have something sexy to wear for him!"

"Umi, do you want to give him a heart attack? Or me one?" Kiyomi asked.

"Heart attack? This may sound weird but guys sometimes need to have a nose bleed or two." Kiyomi gaped at her.

"I can't believe you just said that! Don't tell me you're going to do the same to Gaara? Or have you already done it?" Umi blushed tomato red.

"W-we . . . we're talking about you and Itachi! Not Gaara and me!"  
"DON'T AVOID THE QUESTION!"

"We didn't do it! God, I don't . . . Hold up! Don't tell me you dated Itachi for three months and did . . . it?"

". . . _**ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?**_"

"I'M NOT! BUT YOU'RE IMPLYING THAT GAARA AND I HAVE DONE SO, SO I THOUGHT MAYBE YOU GOT THE IDEA BECAUSE YOU AND ITACHI ALREADY DID!"

"God save us all."

"So are you ready to go and get married?"

"What?"

"Tell me you still remember that you getting married in ten minutes?"

"I am? HOLY CRAP! Umi, you baka! I don't want to be late for my own wedding!"

"So you are getting married?"

"Umi!"

_Meanwhile, at the same time . . ._

"Hey, does anyone here think that Kiyomi and Itachi are making the right choice?" Kiba asked.

"Kiba, I know that you only got out of hospital last week but seriously, they're getting married and that's that!" Temari said. Kiba pouted.

"Ok, ok. I just thought I'd have some kind of chance . . . TEMARI, GET AWAY FROM ME!" Kiba yelped. Temari waved her fist at him.

"If you dare do something to ruin the wedding, trust me! Umi, Hinata, Kiyomi and I will make sure you don't get out of here alive!" Temari threatened. Kiba backed away a bit.

"Ok, ok. But I bet you wouldn't have an easy job of catching me!"

"Kiba, you haven't forgotten what they can do, have you? Temari is destructive with her wind ability, Hinata could spot you way too easily, Umi's temper could easily send you to hospital for a couple of years and Kiyomi could break every bone in your body with her martial arts," Shikamaru said. Kiba paled.

"Ok, maybe it won't be easy."

"I think that you wouldn't make it," Naruto said.

"See? Even Naruto says so and he's often dumb!" Temari said.

"OI!"

"Besides don't you think that it's kinda romantic?" Hinata said softly. Temari nodded.

"Of course! Two years of absence, a fight to get him back, a proposal on the battle field and three months later, a wedding!" she replied, her eyes going all sparkly.

"Where the heck did you see a proposal on the battle field?" Shikamaru said, sweat dropping. Temari scowled at him.

"Are you kidding? She yelled 'I LOVE YOU!"! Nothing's more romantic! Well, except if he had done it first," Temari said, thoughtfully. The boys sweated.

"Hey, how cute do you think their kids will be?" Hinata asked. The boys paled and their eyes turned white. (A/n: Ok, this is hard! You know in animes, there are times when the characters get shocked or something and their eyes turn into white balls? That's what I'm trying to say.)

"A-aren't you getting ahead of yourself? Umi nearly killed Itachi just cause he was marrying Kiyomi! If Kiyomi comes and tells her that she's pregnant, there won't be anything left of Itachi to have even a funeral!" Shikamaru said.

"Oh, but there's always Gaara."

"What about me?" Gaara said, having finally arrived.

"That you could always stop Umi from rampaging after Itachi," Naruto said. Gaara sweated.

"Why? What did Itachi do this time?"

"Nothing. Well, nothing _yet_. We were talking about how cute their kids are going to be and Shikamaru said she will annihilate Itachi," Temari said cheerfully. Gaara sweat dropped.

"I know I managed to calm her down last time but this time with that sort of problem, I don't think I could stop her."

"Wait, why would Gaara be the only one who could stop Umi?" Kiba asked.

"Oh, that's right! You don't know that-" Naruto said before being pushed down in his chair.

"Here they come!" Hinata squealed.

"Kyaa! Check Kiyomi out! Kawaii! And so beautiful!" Temari squealed.

"Never mind that! Doesn't Itachi look nervous?" Kiba asked. Temari smacked him on the head. Then they looked at Itachi. Sure enough, Itachi was beginning to look slightly pale. Then the organ started playing and Kiyomi began walking. 'Ooohs' and 'aahhhs' could be heard. She walked slowly towards the altar.

"Oh, finally! Found you guys!" Umi whispered as she sat down between Kiba and Gaara.

"What took you so long?" Temari demanded.

"Sorry. But really, I need to speak to Okaa-sama about that veil! It's beautiful and all, but god! It was so hard to get it right!"

"Quiet! They're going to start!"

_Fifteen minutes later . . ._

"Ok, who was the idiot who hired that priest? God! He's so long-winded!" Temari asked.

"If you girls are complaining then that means you don't find the idea of a long wedding romantic anymore, right?" Shikamaru asked.

"It was Okaa-sama. God, how much is she going to make us all suffer?" Umi said.

"_**Umi**_ . . ."

Umi looked behind her and paled. Her mom was sitting behind her and glaring at her.

"Didn't say anything! Not even here! I don't exist!" Umi chanted softly. The others sweat dropped.

"Finally! They're going to start the vows!" Temari said excitedly.

"I, Uchiha Itachi, take you, Kinomiya Kiyomi, to be my wife, my constant friend, my faithful partner and my love from this day forward. In the presence of God, our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live."

"I, Kinomiya Kiyomi, take you, Uchiha Itachi, to be my husband, my constant friend, my faithful partner and my love from this day forward. In the presence of God, our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live."

"Oh my god, I'm going to cry!" Temari exclaimed. Shikamaru gave her his handkerchief.

"Oh, they're going to exchange rings now!" Umi's mom squealed softly. Umi rolled her eyes. _So embarrassing!_

"I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness. As I place it on your finger, I commit my heart and soul to you. I ask you to wear this ring as a reminder of the vows we have spoken today, our wedding day," Itachi said, placing the ring on Kiyomi's finger. Kiyomi repeated the words and place another ring on his finger.

"I now pronounce you Husband and Wife. You may now kiss the bride," the priest said. Itachi and Kiyomi blushed and then kissed. Wolf whistles could be heard all over the church.

"Men! So embarrassing!" Temari said. Hinata just blushed as Naruto had been one of the men who had whistled.

"Hey, I'm going to throw the bouquet now!" Kiyomi yelled. All of the unwed women and girls quickly gathered in front of her. Umi reluctantly join them. Kiyomi turned around, her back facing them.

"Ok, ready? Three, two, one!" She yelled and threw it. The bouquet flew high and headed towards a certain blue-haired girl who wasn't paying attention to the bouquet.

"Umi, CATCH!" Kiyomi yelled. Umi automatically reached out and caught it. Only when she looked at it, did she realise what it was.

"AAAHHHH! KIYOMI! I DIDN'T WANT CATCH IT!" she yelled.

"KYAA! You actually fell for it!" Kiyomi said, laughing. Then she started to sing a made up song about Umi and Gaara. She barely finished two sentences when Umi chased after her. "Kyaa! HAHAHA! I can't run in this dress! Umi! Oi, Umi! Hey, quit chasing me!" Kiyomi yelled. Umi was just blushing too hard and running after her to listen to what she was saying. The other wedding guests just laughed at the spectacle.

Soon afterwards, the music started playing and Itachi and Kiyomi step on the floor to have the first dance.

"Hey, Umi!" Kiba asked.

"What?"

"Do you want to dance?"

"Kiba, it's normally the boyfriend who dances first with her," Temari said.

"Then it's a good thing that Umi doesn't have a boyfriend. Or we can always change that. Umi, want to go out with me?" Kiba asked.

"Over my dead body," Gaara said, putting his arm around Umi's waist.

"Huh?"

"Oh, that's right. You won't know because you were in the hospital all this time but Umi and Gaara are going out for real now," Temari said. Kiba gaped at them.

"_Are you serious?_"

"Of course. Why, what made you think that we're not?" Umi asked puzzled.

"This isn't some kind of trick to prevent me from dating you, right? But that's not fair! Everyone knows that I wanted to date you!" Kiba exclaimed. Umi sweated.

"You do realise that two people only go out with each other when they both have feelings for each other, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"I'm sorry, Kiba but I don't feel the same way towards you," Umi said. Then Itachi and Kiyomi walked up to them.

"Hey, Gaara! Dance with me? And Umi, you dance with Itachi," Kiyomi commanded.

"Huh? What?" Umi said, before Itachi grabbed her and dragged her onto the floor.

"Sorry, but Kiyomi wants you to have a talk with me and she wants to talk to Gaara. If I don't obey this wish, then my marriage will be screwed right from the beginning," Itachi said. They began dancing. Umi looked at him and giggled. Itachi blushed.

"Well, I guess Kiyomi did the right thing marrying you," she said. Itachi looked at her in shock. "What?"

"I can't believe you just said that! Only three months ago, you tried to kill me for just saying yes to Kiyomi's proposal! By the way, how is your training to control your ability going?" Itachi exclaimed.

"Um, well . . . To be honest, it's not going so well. Gaara suggested that I attend the training facility that all of you guys trained at. I just have to finish school and join the facility. But we're getting off target. Back to Kiyomi: Ok, she wants me to have a talk with you. But about what . . . OH! Now I remember!" Umi said. Itachi looked at her expectantly. She smiled a pleasant smile.

"Itachi? If you ever try to cheat, ruin, make her unhappy and generally everything else bad, then I'll kill you, ok?" Umi said still smiling but Itachi wasn't fooled as he could see the killing aura in the shape of a demon hanging over her. (A/n: It's a figure of speech. Kinda. Has anyone watched Sekirei? There's this character Miya who has this demon aura that appears whenever she gets mad and I thought I'd use something similar to it in my story. Does it make more sense to you readers now?)

Gaara and Kiyomi felt the killing aura and looked at Umi and Itachi.

"Hehe. Guess Umi did speak to him about it. Well, better now than later," Kiyomi said, smiling fondly at them.

"You said you wanted to talk?"

"Oh, right. Gaara, how far are you going to go with Umi? In your relationship?" Kiyomi asked, looking at him. Gaara blushed a little as he was slightly embarrassed.

"Um, nothing beyond the norm."

"Hmm, I see. So does that mean you're planning on doing _that_ soon?" Kiyomi asked innocently. Gaara blushed even harder.

"T-that's none of your business!"

"Hmm, true, true. Well, I just wanted to see if you would tell me. Ok, here's the real reason I wanted to talk to you: don't hurt her! Take good care of her, don't cheat and don't lie. Understand?" Kiyomi said, making a scary face. Gaara sweated.

"Hai."

"Good, oh and one more thing. Don't do _that_ too soon, understand?" Kiyomi teased. Gaara walked away from her and headed towards the garden area. Two minutes later, Umi walks up to Kiyomi.

"What did you say to him?"

"Nothing much."

"You had to have said something bad! He was blushing so hard!"

"Ok, ok, I'll tell you. Come here," Kiyomi said and whispered into Umi's ear. Umi instantly blushed and glared at her.

"You're so embarrassing!"

"Hey, I have to push you both in the right direction, don't I? Besides, wait for my honeymoon to end before telling me you're getting married, ok?" Kiyomi teased. Umi grabbed her arm.

"Where the heck did you get the idea we're going to marry? I've only been dating him for three months!" she whispered.

"You do know the superstition behind the wedding bouquet, right? Whoever catches it, is supposed to get married next," Kiyomi said, smiling. Umi blushed even harder and ran outside. Itachi walked up to her.

"What are you doing? You're not meddling in their affairs, are you?" Itachi asked. Kiyomi laughed guiltily. Itachi shook his head.

"Let's go back. I'm getting kind of crowded," Kiyomi said, starting to blush.

"Where?"

"Our room, of course," Kiyomi said, grabbing his arm and dragging him away. Itachi blushed.

Gaara walked over to one of the darker areas of the garden and sat down on one of the benches. _God! Kiyomi is way too shameless!_

"Gaara!" Umi called out and then spotted him. He looked up. He was still a bit red. "Sorry! Kiyomi is sometimes way too nosy! I should have spoken to her about it earlier and make her not speak of it."

Gaara didn't speak. Umi looked at him in dismay. _Oh god, please tell me Kiyomi didn't screw up my relationship! Or maybe he just wanted to be alone?_

"Ah, sorry. You probably wanted to be alone. I'll go back- Wha-?" Umi said, backing away but then Gaara pulled her towards him, making her sit on his lap. "G-Gaara?"

"Stay with me?"

Umi blushed and stayed still. "Sure." Gaara smiled. Then he leaned slightly forward. _He's going to kiss me!_ Umi closed her eyes and just as their lips were going to touch, a voice spoke next to them.

"What the heck do you think you're doing?"

Startled, Gaara and Umi looked to see who it was.

"Yu-Yuzuki?" Umi said, recognising her sister. Yuzuki frowned at Gaara.

"I will not let you have my sister! You're not worthy!" Yuzuki exclaimed. Gaara and Umi gaped at her.

_To be continued . . ._

* * *

**Author's note:**** Well, what do you all think? Was it good? Better or worse? Ugh, I'm so embarrassed! Hope you like this chapter because I added a lot of romance and stuff in it. There's a lot of things in this chapter that are embarrassing to me write but not to others. It just the way I am.**

**My sister pointed this out but Umi hasn't spoken to Yuzuki about staying with Akatsuki. I promise to add it in the sequel!**

**For those of you who might be curious as to what the names Umi, Yuzuki, Kiyomi and Toshihiro mean and why I chose them, then here's the explanation:**

**Umi – Ocean/Sea. I chose this name because it's my favourite Japanese name so far.**

**Yuzuki – Tender moon. My sister chose this name as it has a relationship with Umi. (The moon makes tides in the sea)**

**Kiyomi – Pure beauty. My friend chose this name because she like the word 'pure'. So she wanted a nice name that had some connection with pure; 'pure hearted', 'pure nature', 'pure beauty', etc.**

**Toshihiro – Intelligent. I chose this name as I really wanted my brother in this story to have a name that means something that could relate to how he is. Seeing as he is a computer genius in the story, this name suited him the most.**

**Now, this is the end of Konoha High: Trust me. I want to write the sequel but first I need to finish Lpog(Love, pretend and one girl). Here's a small summary preview about what the sequel will be about.**

_Umi has finally overcome her past and is even going out with Gaara. But with the arrival of her sister, going to the training facility to learn how to control her ability and Gaara meeting some old friends, can Umi's and Gaara's relationship survive?_

**There, how's that? ^^**

**I'd like to thank all of the new readers who took time to review and comment on my story. You really motivated me to write even more! I hope to hear from you more with my new sequel and with Lpog. If you haven't read it yet, I suggest you should. It's really funny! ^^**


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